Berry special festive fave...
Holly has strong Christmas connections but it is a versatile winner all year
WITH its shiny red berries and glossy green leaves, holly is inseparable from traditional images of Christmas and the perfect choice for front door wreaths, table and mantelpiece decorations, and the sprig on top of the pudding and cake.
The tradition of bringing evergreen material such as holly and ivy indoors dates back to pagan times and signified that life carried on, even though the earth fell dormant through the winter months. It was also believed that woodland spirits associated with these plants would accompany them into homes and remain under cover from the freezing forest temperatures. The spirits that survived would return the favour and bring good luck to the house dwellers in the following year.
This pagan symbolism merged with Christian beliefs over the years as Christmas fell at the same time as the pagan feasts and the winter solstice, meaning the association of holly with Christmas became a Christian one.
The common plant name is believed to be derived from ‘holy’ and colourchanging holly berries were said to tell the story of Jesus’s life – the white berry being the pure birth of Jesus, the green his youth, the red his blood, and black berries his death before the resurrection.
Holly has an extremely dense and slow-growing habit so that keeping it in shape is easy. It is great in the garden as a hedging plant and as a textured foil for other planting. It can be pruned for low hedging or topiary shapes, or left to be a beautiful tree. It makes the most wonderful specimen plant and being evergreen means that they will shine all year round. The deep red berries provide valuable food for local wildlife, including blackbirds, fieldfares, redwings and thrushes.
However, you are not always guaranteed berries unless you have a self-pollinating variety. This is because hollies come in separate male and female forms so you will need to plant both sexes to see berries.
That said, if you want only one in the garden, the flowers will get pollinated by other holly trees in the neighbourhood. The best way to ensure you are buying a female that will berry is to buy one when it has berries on it and you then won’t be disappointed.
The traditional prickly holly (Ilex aquifolium) that we know and love is just one member of a large group of about 450 species of plants of shrubs and trees that are found across the world. Although the sharp-spined holly associated with Christmas is the most familiar, other family members have simple oval leaf shapes that can be finely toothed or serrated.
As a hedge, this type of holly is an ideal burglar deterrent, but the smooth-leaved Ilex crenata is just as effective as a hedge and looks fantastic. It is now more commonly used as a substitute for Buxus, which has been susceptible to blight in recent years. Both species are evergreen, produce flowers and berry well from late autumn to winter.
There are also a great number of cultivars to choose from with variegated foliage in bright colours. Ilex aquifolium ‘Silver Queen’ has the most striking silver edged leaves and Ilex x altaclerensis ‘Golden King’ has handsome variegated leaves that are free of spines, but with an irregular edge in golden yellow.
Confusingly, ‘Silver Queen’ is a male and ‘Golden King’ is female!
Pay the local garden centre a visit and take a look, but for that wonderful warm Christmas feeling, you won’t get better than the common deep green English holly.
And for any readers currently absorbed in the Netflix hit about chess, The Queen’s Gambit, did you know that white chess pieces are traditionally made from holly wood?