How to grow your own Holly.

To my mind there is nothing more festive at this time of the year than bright red berries against spiky green leaves. A wreath of holly on your door at christmas gives a lot of cheer.

Holly is native to Britain and ever green and can grow up to 10 meters if not cut.

Holly

• Makes a splendid hedge.
• Quite a few varieties: Golden King-Silver Queen to name but two.
• You can mix berries in moist sand...leave for a year, tuning them every once in a while.
• Sow them in a pot, sand and all, the following spring.
• Be patient because they can be very slow.
• Holly is dioecious ( either male or female) so you will not get berries in every case.
• Fertilized female flowers develop into shiny red berries
• Trees will not flower for the first twenty years.
• Prune holly with secateurs only.

I collect holly plants from under Holly hedges. You will be surprised at how many you will find poking through the ground come Spring.

                                                                         Winter Beds

In the garden, this week you should

• Dig out your annuals and turning over the soil
• Plant any trees and shrubs before it snows
• If it does snow, clear as much as possible from branches. Snow can be very heavy and break branches. Shake the snow off your shrubs and polly tunnels.