JOLLY HOLLY DAYS!
Decorate your home this festive season with real winter berries
IS THIS the answer to a pontiff’s automotive prayers? Pope Francis has just taken delivery of a humble Dacia Duster SUV, which is to be his new popemobile.
The 4x4 has been adapted for the Vatican by a budget-price Romanian marque, part of France’s Renault group.
White with beige interiors, the Pope’s
Duster has five seats, including a ‘particularly comfortable’ rear bench seat. It also has a large sunroof, with removable glass superstructure for events, and ground clearance 30mm lower than normal for easier access, as well extra accessories for the Holy See.
The Duster is already achieving a wide following for its easy customisation. Prices start from £10,995 for the Access TCe 100, and reach up to £18,895 for the Prestige TCe 150 4x4.
AGOOD garden, said a friend of mine, looks ravishing every day of the year. My response was unprintable. Nowhere looks ravishing this late. Trees are bare and there will be almost no fresh flowers before January when the early snowdrops begin to open. Meanwhile, it’s all low key but never hopeless. Subtle colours, unnoticed almost all year show beautifully now. Golden cypresses, blue spruces and other decorative evergreens look their best now, especially on bright, frosty mornings.
Berries are still plentiful, too. But the big stars are plants with variegated foliage. Hollies, laurels and other evergreens can be wonderfully decorative, with or without berries.
The classiest have lustrous, bottle-green leaves with bold margins in buttercup-yellow or clean, silver-white.
Other varieties have yellow or cream blazes along their leaf centres. A few may be uniformly golden-green or have mottled, stippled or marbled foliage.
COLD STARS
VARIEGATED foliage looks attractive at any time of year. But in midwinter when flowers are scarce and colours muted, decorative foliage can almost dazzle. Evergreens with medium to large leaves — hollies, aucuba,
Elaeagnus — are especially beautiful. They look pretty from afar, but often have intricate leaf patterns which are lovely in close-up. That makes them valuable for indoor use, with or without cut flowers.
Bronze, maroon or white chrysanthemums would look superb accompanied by green and gold foliage.
Christmas roses look even more festive arranged with silver variegated holly, especially with berries. In a garden, you can blend any number of green or grey foliage types without fear of clashing. But variegated plants need more careful placing.
In general, they make better soloists than chorus members. Mixing a number of different variegated shrubs can look restless and messy.
Common holly Ilex aquifolium harmonises with its silvervariegated relative I. Argentea Marginata. In bolder yellow and
green I. Golden King also makes a fine companion. But all three together might look less attractive.
So if you’re creating a screen or planting in groups, plaincoloured companion plants may look best. Blue conifers look superb teamed with gold or yellow-variegated foliage.
SCALING DOWN
FOR tiny gardens, big evergreens are not feasible. But you can create enchanting winter shows on a reduced scale. In the ground, shrubs such as Aucuba Crotonifolia or yellow-edged
Euonymus japonicus Ovata can be clipped to size.
Conifers can make fine companions to variegated evergreens. The gorgeous blue Colorado spruce, P. pungens contrasts boldly with yellowmargined holly Ilex Golden King. With silver variegated I. aquifolium Argentea Marginata there’s a more subtle blend.
Most hollies grow large if left untouched. But they respond well to regular pruning. You can keep most to whatever dimensions suit, usually with a single annual clip. That’s why hollies make such excellent hedges.
For tiny gardens, dwarf Japanese holly Ilex crenata is a smaller option. The variety Golden Gem has custard yellow splashes on its small, rounded leaves. That would harmonise with the tiny, rounded blue spruce Picea pungens Globosa.