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Deck the Halls... (From Hampshire Society)
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Deck the Halls...
4:36pm Tuesday 15th December 2009
I wonder how many sprigs of holly will be made into wreaths and decorations, or will appear on the front of Christmas cards this year.
Holly has become (along with mistletoe, perhaps) the plant we most associate with this Christian festival. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why? Is it purely the glossy green leaves that contrast so well with the shiny red berries? Many believe the prickly leaves symbolise Jesus’ crown of thorns and the berries, his blood.
However, the myths and folklore surrounding Ilex aquifolium, or common holly, go back in history somewhat further than the Nativity over 2,000 years ago.
In Celtic mythology, the Holly King ruled death and winter, and the Oak King ruled life and summer. The Holly King was depicted as a club-wielding giant, and could be the basis of the legend of the Green Knight who challenged Sir Gawain of King Arthur’s Round Table to a duel.
Holly was thought to protect a house from wicked faeries and offer a safe hiding place for the good faeries and so small sprigs were hung up in a house during the winter. These aside, it was believed to be bad luck to cut down a holly; thus they often remained untrimmed within a hedge.
This had the added benefit of preventing witches from running along the top of the hedges!
In Scandinavia, the holly belonged to Thor and could protect humans from being struck by lightning so hollies were often planted next to houses. (Curiously, because of their shape and many prickles, we now know that the leaves do act as effective lightning conductors, protecting anything or anyone in their vicinity.) It seems most likely that the Romans copied the Celts and brought holly indoors to decorate their houses in winter, and the Roman Christians adopted the idea. Thus the tradition continues two millennia later.
Common holly is just one member of a family that has some 400 species of both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs which occur in both hemispheres in temperate and tropical regions.
However, in this article, I am going to focus on the evergreen varieties that we can grow in our gardens, mainly because they are tough, resistant to pollution and maritime exposure, can be clipped into shapes and hedges, and are extremely attractive. They come in a vast range of leaf shape and colour, and berry colour too.
We are lucky to have one of England’s top holly growers in Hampshire. Louise Bendall Duck is creator and proprietor of Highfield Hollies, in Liss. She has filled four acres of her small farm with hundreds of hollies of all shapes and sizes, old cultivars and brand new, and has been growing Ilex for 17 years.
The two best-known groups of hollies are the I. aquifolium cultivars, and the Highclere hollies, I. x altaclerensis, the result of crossing the former with Ilex perado. The Highclere varieties are vigorous and have large handsome leaves, the best known of which is I. ‘Golden King’.
At this juncture, I would mention that hollies are either male or female and both are usually needed for the females to produce berries (but a few varieties are self pollinating and do not require a male plant nearby). I am obliged to tell you, however, that you should not rely on the name of the cultivar for this information – ‘Golden King’, for example’ is female and has excellent red berries which look extremely fine with the nearly spineless, large, green and gold leaves. ‘Silver Queen’ is, naturally, a male!
I. altaclerensis ‘Ripley Gold’ is a new sport of ‘Golden King’ and the young stems are bright pink and the leaves have a ripple or twist in them which is most attractive. I. altaclerensis ‘Camelliifolia’ is another favourite of mine, whose name describes the leaves perfectly. ‘Belgica Aurea’ or Silver Sentinel Holly has elliptical, nearly-spineless leaves that are edged in gold.
It makes a very fine tree and bears orange-red berries.
The berry colour of some Ilex aquifolium varieties is very striking. Take, for example, I. aquifolium ‘Amber’ which has apricot berries, or ‘Bacciflava’ which has brilliant daffodil-yellow berries in abundance. I have planted the latter in groups around Betula utilis var. jacquemontii in an arboretum, and the white stems of the birches shine brilliant-white against the dark leaves of the holly, with the yellow berries adding an unusual touch of gold in the winter months.
Other favourites would include ‘Golden Milkboy’ (male) which unusually has a gold splash in the centre of the large leaves, and ‘Handsworth New Silver’ (Female – red berries) whose purple stems look fine with the silver-edged leaves.
‘Montrosa’ (male) would make an excellent hedge to keep out most burglars; the many-spined curling leaves and dense habit would be hard to penetrate.
Some hollies have useful habits. Take I. aquifolium ‘Argentea Marginata Pendula’ which makes a beautiful weeping dome and is covered in bright red berries – what a stunning specimen for a small garden. ‘Lichtenthalii’ (Female) is a low spreading bush, and ‘Green Pillar’ (Female) is a tall, upright-growing columnar variety.
The variegated leaves of many hollies really do brighten up a winter scene. A hedge of mixed gold-and-white variegated types can look particularly cheerful.
They also work well in conjunction with conifers, contrasting successfully with their finer needles or fuzzy foliage.
Ilex aquifolium ‘Flavescens’ (known as the 'Moonlight Holly') has new shoots bearing canary-yellow leaves that darken through gold to green and would also look fine growing amongst Cotinus or bronze-leaved shrubs.
I have seen Ilex x koehneana used for hedging a couple of times and it is a very handsome plant. It is known as the ‘Chestnut Leaf’ holly, and indeed its leaves are similar to those of a sweet chestnut.
It is female and has red berries.
Other evergreens for our gardens would include Japanese Holly, Ilex crenata. This has tiny leaves and is proving useful as a substitute for box (which is suffering from the box blight in some areas) and can be grown as a small, compact, evergreen hedge.
The berries are black. Louise lists two dozen forms which all have their own merits.
Ilex pernyi is another slow-growing holly with very attractive triangular leaves and bright red fruit.
Hollies are very obliging and will put up with most soils but do not want to be water-logged. They are very popular with rabbits so plants should be well protected or the new, tender shoots will be nibbled off. They are usually slow growing but long-lived.
Keeping weeds away from their stems, and watering in the first year or two will help new plants get established. Any clipping or pruning should be carried out in August.
Holly is used in marquetry because the wood is a beautiful creamy-grey that contrasts well with darker rosewood or mahogany. What a versatile plant!
Give it a second thought when you hang up your wreath this month, and bring a sprig or two into the house and see if the good faeries move in too.
Happy Christmas!
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