Garden Centre

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Holly heaven

Apparently it hasn’t been a good year for holly, which means that I must be in a tiny minority. My three hollies have flourished like mad! There are a lot of reasons to grow holly – security, superstition and sustainability.

Holly, in folklore, protects the home from evil spells because the red berries, like those of hawthorn or the mountain ash, ward off malign spirits. A nice strong holly also wards off burglars if grown under windows! In early Christian belief, spiny leaves were a symbol of the Crown of Thorns and the red berries represented of the blood of Christ.

A holly will grow in almost any soil, provided it is not too wet, but makes large growth in rich, sandy or gravelly loam with good drainage, and a moderate amount of moisture at the roots. It is rarely checked, by even the most severe winters, once established. You can raise it from seeds, but you need to know that they don’t germinate until the second year, hence the berries are generally buried in a tray of earth for a year before being sown in pots. The young plants are transplanted when about a foot tall in autumn.

Because holly exhausts the soil around it to a greater extent than most deciduous trees, it’s a good idea to manure well in the spring before transplanting holly – and remember that a minimum of two years will be needed for the plant to recover the check given by transplanting. While birds seem to enjoy the berries, they are poisonous to humans. Deer will eat the leaves in winter, and sheep thrive on them.

Labels: evergreen plants, garden shrubs, winter colour, winter interest

The All Seasons Gardener at 9:14 AM

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