SEASON’S GREETINGS

Many people decorating their homes with holly will be unaware of its ecology. It is dioecious: trees are male or female. This is why some are devoid of berries, as only female hollies bear them. Technically, the fruit is the stonelike part in the middle; the scarlet skin is the exocarp, while the orangey flesh is the mesocarp. Of all our garden birds, blackbirds and thrushes are especially fond of holly berries.