Holly

Advantages: great plant
Disadvantages: none

Holly is definatley a plant or should i say a shrub which is what it actually is that we usually asociate with christmas but that is not its only use. Its most comercial use is to make wreaths as christmas decorations but it is also a very nice shrub to have in your garden. Holly as i have already said is a shrub, they can be brought as small shrubs from garden centers for about £10 each and soon grow into a lovely shrub with a thick almost tree ...
...most important thing about planting holly is where you plant it, it realy needs to be by a wall or a fence as it grows very tall and has a tendancy to get very battered by wind if you plant it somewhere with no protection. Holly doesnt need a lot of light so you can put it almost anywhere even in shaded areas by walls, my holly bush is about 11 foot tall. It is a realy nice plant to have in your garden as the leaves are green all year round, although ... Read review

Advantages: It's Holly
Disadvantages: There Can't Be.

...ask me: "Why does my holly bush have no berries?” this is becoming more and more common. In the gardens where I once worked we had many bushes of different hollies. For example, Ilex 'Golden King', I. 'Argentea Marginata', I. ferox, I. 'Golden Queen', I. 'J.C.van Tol', I. pendula and many more. Each year over the last several or so, it has become noticeable that we have very few berries, if any, on these plants. I am of the opinion that the usual ...
...I have noticed that the holly bushes with dark leaves are producing none or virtually no berries while those with lighter, yellow or variegated leaves still do. My theory is that the darker leaves absorb the heat more and the paler ones reflect light and heat, so must be colder earlier and longer in the season. Berries fail to be produced because the colder weather arrives later and is shorter and the heat absorption lasts longer. Dry periods and ... Read review

Advantages: Good for birds and butterflies .
Disadvantages: Prickly

...Holly - Ilex I have seen many Holly hedges and we have a holly mixed in with our hedge, we did not plant it but I think its seed dropped from a bird as it sat in the bush next to it. Holly is an evergreen tree. A holly is easy to identify as it has shiny prickly leaves with sharp points. Actually there is one holly that does not have points on its leaves .The leaves of the holly is green and some are variegated with cream. The female holly produces red berries that are used at Christmas for decoration. To get holly berries there must be a male tree nearby to pollinate the female to produce berries. Some hollies have yellow berries. If you are buying holly at the garden centre the sex should be on the label. Holly is a good tree to make a hedge from as it makes a thick hedge; it is prickly so is good for a border hedge where... Read review

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Advantages: Evergreen, flowers, berries, good for beasties
Disadvantages: Difficult to tell the girls from the boys

...I can legitimately use sex as an introduction to that most Christmassy of plants, the holly. If you think that’s just a headline-grabber, read on and I will justify. (Okay, maybe it is . . .) But so many people come to me with the question, “Why does my holly never produce berries?”. And the answer is sex. There are male hollies and female hollies. Male hollies produce flowers with pollen, with the potential to fertilise female hollies. (Sorry if I’m being too graphic. Gets a bit close to the bone sometimes, this gardening/nature thing.). Female hollies also produce flowers, with the potential to be fertilised by the pollen from male hollies. You know what’s coming next, don’t you? If you want berries, you need two hollies, a male and a female, and preferably a few obliging insects to do the dirty deed. But as we all know, insects... Read review

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Advantages: Loving, loyal, good natured
Disadvantages: Scatty, ear problems

.... The whole neighbourhood knew and loved him and he was missed by many. Holly was our next springer, black and white a neutered bitch that we rehomed from a rescue centre near Huddersfield. She was the scattiest of all our dogs and when anyone came to the front door would hurl herself there and as the door opened, leap almost into the visitors arms, back kicking them in the groin as she went. Regular male visitors soon learned to knock and then retreat hastily down the path protecting their nether regions with crossed hands :-) She was also very good at walking off the lead but her one weakness was water. In the woods that we walked regularly was a smelly old pond known locally as the dewpond. If she disappeared during the walk that's the first place we'd look for her and she'd be there submerged to her chin with a look of absolute bliss... Read review

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