With Agnes Stevenson
With beautiful leaves and bright berries, holly looks great in our gardens and, says Agnes Stevenson, this is the perfect time of year to take cuttings
November for the most part has been wet and mild and flowers that would normally have bowed out weeks ago have clung on almost to the end of the month.
But winter will arrive and, when it does, I’m ready for it. Well almost. I’ve still to plant my tulip bulbs, but it does these no harm to go in late. However I’m poised, secateurs in hand, to pounce on my neighbour’s holly tree in pursuit of cuttings.
This is the best time of the year to take holly cuttings. Hardwood cuttings taken now may not strike so readily as those taken during the growing season, but the success rate is higher and once you’ve popped them into pots of loamy compost you can put them in a cold frame or sheltered corner and forget about them for six months, by which time you’ll have lots of young plants ready to pot on.
I have my eye on my neighbour’s tree because, not only does it have bold yellow splashes on its leaves, but the tree is an attractive conical shape and is heavy with berries. Because cuttings produce plants that are genetically identical to the parent, any young hollies grown from it should share these qualities.
I’ve always loved holly but didn’t fully appreciate how many different kinds there were until I toured Threave Garden in Castle Douglas.
I visited in late summer, when there were grapes on the outdoor vine and the herbaceous borders were full of colour, but it was a conversation with head gardener Michael Lawrie that persuaded me to go back again, this time to look at the hollies.
When Michael started work at Threave 17 years ago, he discovered dozens of different kinds of holly growing in the woodland and arboretum, many of them overgrown and
neglected and none with a label. Since then Michael has been able to identify almost 70 different hollies and rejuvenated many by cutting them back hard to stimulate new growth.
“Hollies make fantastic garden plants,” says Michael. “Some forms, such as the dwarf Japanese holly Ilex crenata “Golden Gem” create a bright spot in the garden during the winter months and this one in particular is also very useful as an alternative to box hedging.”
Others, like the “hedgehog holly”, Ilex aquifolium “Ferox” makes an effective security feature under windows because of its abundant spines.
But not all hollies are sharp and prickly. The Himalayan holly, Ilex dipyrena has smooth, spineless leaves. And not all produce red berries – on some the berries are amber or yellow.
To help visitors understand what’s available to gardeners, Michael is setting up a holly trail and taking lots of cuttings so Threave’s hollies, many of them unusual varieties, will still be around for many years to come.