Living Christmas founder Scott Martin shakes hands with Mark Cuban on an episode of the television show "Shark Tank." Cuban agreed to back Martin's company, which rents out live Christmas trees in California. (Kelsey McNeal ABC/via Getty Images)

Christmas is a week away. That still leaves time to get a tree if you don’t yet have one.

Usually around this time of a year, a ferocious debate takes place about whether real or fake trees do more harm to the environment. Last year we hopped right in. “It turns out in most instances, whether you buy a farm-grown tree or an artificial one doesn’t change how much of an environmental impact you’ll have on the planet,” we reported. “Rather, what matters is how far you drive to get your evergreen, how you dispose of it and how long you use the artificial tree.”

What we didn’t consider was renting a live tree, something one California business has offered since 2008 and which is gaining popularity, thanks in part to backing by Mark Cuban after the founder, Scott Martin, appeared on the television show “Shark Tank.”

Through the Living Christmas Company, consumers rent a potted tree and return it once the tinsel-shrouded cheer subsides. “Our trees are alive, in a pot with their roots and growing. We deliver the tree to you, and then pick it up after the holidays,” the company website explains. “The tree then goes back to our nursery” — a former oil refinery turned brownfield, Treehugger reported — “where it continues growing until next year.”

According to The Living Christmas Co., even if a tree can’t be repotted and used for the following year, that greenery gets donated to a tree-planting organization or an urban reforestation project.

Clint Springer, a St. Joseph University professor and tree expert, says he loves the idea. “By continuing to grow the trees beyond the year that they are used for Christmas trees and then replanting them, unlike cut Christmas trees, they maintain their ability to continue to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide into their plant tissues,” he tells weather.com. “This is the real benefit of a living versus artificial tree.” Despite multiple uses for the latter, they have no ability to remove C02 from the atmopshere.

(MORE: Which Is Better for the Environment: Real or Fake Trees?)

The company, which takes its environmental mission pretty seriously, also has aquirky side, suggesting lullabies and some TLC to help the tree feel at home with the family. “The trees do best when they are given a name and sang to regularly. Remember that your tree is alive and in its infancy. Your six-year-old tree will someday grow to be 70 or 100 years old with the right love and attention!” Martin calls himself Scotty Claus.

All kidding aside, you do actually have to care for the tree as you would any plant. Martin told Treehugger that some 2 to 3 percent of the company’s trees die annually, usually due to lack of watering on the part of the renters.

Right now, the company only delivers in California and only to certain parts of the state. Customers can tag their trees to get the same one the following year — and some people get pretty attached, like a family The New York Times profiled when the company first took off. “Ramona, you’re back!” Megan Arquette said, giving her “girl” a good whiff. “Ummmm. It smells so good.”

Ramona certainly isn’t the only named tree Martin’s heard. “One of the things I enjoy most is going through and reading all the different names,” Martin told Public Radio International. “You know, like Spruce Lee, Treesus Agustus, Little Baby Treesus — reading what people name their trees is really one of the fun parts of the job.”

As to whether this method is better for Mother Earth than the others, the jury’s still out. The company is trying: The most obvious benefit is not cutting down — and then discarding — new trees year after year. Martin told PRI Living Christmas Co. is considering moving to drought-resistant Colorado Spruce, and the company loads up as many trees as possible into a single delivery, to be as efficient as possible.

Plus, it’s got a little bit of “Christmas magic, a lot of hard-working elves and a passion for celebrating in a way that honors both nature and our community.” With those elements on your side, it seems hard to miss.

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