India, Nov. 3 -- This holiday season, all eyes will be on a New Yorker taking centre stage in Manhattan: the Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree. And this year, it hails from East Greenbush, New York.

The native New York tree from a suburb just south of Albany marks a return to an Empire State born-and-bred tree after the 2024 version came from Massachusetts. The 75-foot-tall Norway spruce, which boasts a diametre of 45 feet, will travel about 130 miles (209 kilometres), arriving at the famous plaza on November 8.

"As soon as I saw it, I knew it was perfect," Erik Pauze, Rockefeller Center's head gardener, said in a statement, adding "What I look for is a tree you'd want in your living room, but on a grander scale ... it needs to make peo...