{"id":3251,"date":"2020-12-08T08:11:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T16:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3251"},"modified":"2020-12-08T08:12:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T16:12:16","slug":"boughs-of-holly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/boughs-of-holly\/","title":{"rendered":"Boughs of Holly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"holly<\/a>I am having a bad case of holiday envy.\u00a0 As I walk my neighborhood, I see that my neighbors have spent the past weekend arranging extravagant holiday displays.\u00a0 Twinkly lights sparkle from trees and shrubs, wreathes adorn multiple windows, over-the-door arches welcome visitors to various homes, and holiday inflatables of every size and description sway on front lawns.\u00a0 One house in my town has jumped aboard the inflatable bandwagon, with two giant Christmas dragons that must be at least seven feet tall, complete with Christmas hats and candy canes clutched in their air-filled claws.<\/p>\n

I am already behind, but there is nothing like envy to motivate even a decorating slacker like me.\u00a0 I am not made of money, but I do have resources.\u00a0 Every day I defeat my innate laziness by making games out of chores, and I will do the same with Christmas decorating.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get to the garden center sooner rather than later, so I have supplies at the ready whenever I have ten minutes to deck my halls.<\/p>\n

Most important, I\u2019ll use what I have growing on the premises\u2014an awful lot of holly, false holly and euonymus–to drape over all the available surfaces.\u00a0 It costs nothing and most of the shrubs need pruning anyway.\u00a0 One of my ways of gaming the holiday decorating system is to make a virtue\u2014holiday decorations\u2014out of the necessity of pruning.<\/p>\n

Why is holly such a big deal in holiday decorating?\u00a0 It all goes back to our ancient forbearers, especially those living in cold winter climates, who thought anything that stayed green over the winter had magical properties.\u00a0 The Romans, ever a fun-loving group\u2014at least when they weren\u2019t out conquering things\u2014used evergreens to celebrate Saturnalia, a winter celebration that included the exchange of gifts and masters temporarily swapping roles with slaves.\u00a0 Ancient Celts hung holly, along with other greens, as well. \u00a0When Christianity came along, holly, with its prickly leaves, was adopted as a symbol of Christ\u2019s crown of thorns.\u00a0 The red berries represented his blood.<\/p>\n

No matter what holly symbolizes for you, it is great for holiday and winter decorating.\u00a0 The leaves are glossy and eye-catching and the berries are little points of light that are especially welcome in a month when stygian darkness envelopes the outdoor world from about four-thirty every afternoon to about eight-thirty the next morning.<\/p>\n

If you have a little room on your property, you can grow enough holly to create your own decorations or augment store-bought swags and wreathes.\u00a0 Before investing in one, remember that with hollies, everything comes down to sex.\u00a0 Hollies are either male or female, and you need both so that the female plants can produce berries.\u00a0 Fortunately, the male plant does not have to live on your lot\u2014it can belong to a neighbor or someone on your block.\u00a0 The bees do the heavy lifting.\u00a0 Male hollies often have masculine-sounding names, like \u2018Blue Prince\u2019.\u00a0 Female hollies sometimes have feminine names.\u00a0 If you are in doubt, ask someone knowledgeable at your local nursery.\u00a0 Catalog and online vendors usually supply this important information as well.<\/p>\n

Good old English holly or Ilex aquifolium is justly renowned for its glossy green leaves and abundant red berries.\u00a0 It is quite amenable to clipping and can be left to its own devices, or disciplined into standard tree form.\u00a0 Prune regularly to keep the plant at a manageable size for your situation.<\/p>\n

English holly is also available in gorgeous variegated forms and I have seen more of them in home landscapes lately.\u00a0 \u2018Argenteomarginata\u2019 is a female variety, featuring cream leaf margins that may turn a bit rosy under certain weather conditions.\u00a0 \u2018Aureomarginata\u2019 boasts golden yellow leaf margins.<\/p>\n

The English hollies have been widely hybridized, and if you live in a climate with colder winters, you might try one of the Meserveae hybrids, which were the result of crosses made between English hollies and a cold-hardy species, Ilex rugosa.\u00a0 Among the best known are \u2018Blue Boy\u2019 and \u2018Blue Girl\u2019, both with dark, lustrous blue-green foliage.<\/p>\n

\u2018Nellie Stevens\u2019 is another popular hybrid holly that forms a relatively compact tree, topping out at about 25 feet.\u00a0 \u2018Nellie\u2019 is distinguished by the fact that it can reproduce parthenocarpically or without pollination by a male plant.\u00a0 This means red berries will appear even without the intervention of a local male holly.\"holly<\/a><\/p>\n

If you have made a commitment to native plants, try American holly or Ilex opaca.\u00a0 The leaves on the species are a little less showy and shiny than those of English holly.\u00a0 You can compensate for that by buying varieties like \u2018Jersey Knight\u2019 and \u2018Jersey Princess\u2019, which have been selected for heavy berry production and attractive leaves.\u00a0 Ilex iconoclasts may choose the striking \u2018Canary\u2019, which bears yellow fruits.\u00a0 After all, lightening will not strike you if your holiday swags are adorned with golden berries.<\/p>\n

If you, like me, suffer from holiday decoration envy, or just want a lovely, wildlife-friendly plant for your yard or garden, investigate the holly clan.\u00a0 Local nurseries usually carry several varieties and can advise you about the best varieties and planting times.\u00a0 For a mail order\/online source, try ForestFarm, 14643 Watergap Rd, Williams, OR 97544; (541) 846-7269; www.forestfarm.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am having a bad case of holiday envy.\u00a0 As I walk my neighborhood, I see that my neighbors have spent the past weekend arranging extravagant holiday displays.\u00a0 Twinkly lights sparkle from trees and shrubs, wreathes adorn multiple windows, over-the-door arches welcome visitors to various homes, and holiday inflatables of every size and description sway … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,5],"tags":[2417,2421,2415,2211,2209,2414,2416,2420,2419,2418],"class_list":["post-3251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-winter","tag-american-holly","tag-berry-plants","tag-english-holly","tag-holiday-decorations","tag-holly","tag-ilex-aquifolium","tag-ilex-opaca","tag-ilex-x-meserveae","tag-meserve-hybrids","tag-nellie-stevens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3254,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3251\/revisions\/3254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}