[Carriage Hill]

I think the National Christmas Trees are donated by private individuals, but the US Park Service “supervises” digging, transport and installation. That was the problem, I’d bet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Christmas_Tree_(United_States)

[Carry_Okie]

What you describe is correct, but as a matter of arboriculture, at 26' this tree was awfully big for a foolproof transplant in an exposed location as warm as DC gets. It is very difficult at that size for the tree to have an adequate root zone. The result is too much outgo for the uptake.

That fits too.