The holly and the ivy

Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without the holly and the ivy, but have you thought about growing your own? Graham Rice suggests some interesting varieties

- Graham Rice

THE holly and the ivy are the traditional Christmas evergreens. You can sometimes buy holly, with its bright scarlet berries, from florists or garden centres, but black-berried ivy is much less often seen. So, as usual, the way to be sure of a supply is to grow it yourself. And if you grow it yourself you can pick the ideal varieties and, in particular, varieties with foliage that bring more than just good old green.

But, before we get on to the foliage, what about those berries? As you’ll probably remember, hollies come as either male or female plants. And we need female varieties to carry the berries and male varieties to provide the pollen for fertilisation. Berries are usually red, but they also come in orange and yellow.

Invaluable for wreaths

Fortunately, there are two varieties that are self-fertile so don’t need male pollinators, and they will also provide pollen for female varieties. Ivies? No problem.

Ivy berries are black, except for an unusual yellow-berried variety, and are invaluable for holiday wreaths. The only problem with ivy berries is that they only appear on mature growth, usually at the top of the plant, so you may need to stretch, or use a stepladder, to reach them.

But back to the foliage. There’s a large number of variegated holly varieties, and last year I even found a variegated branch on a wild holly growing in a local wood. Some are edged in yellow or white and some are splashed. The trick is to choose varieties with good variegation and that carry good crops of berries. And don’t forget that you, or a neighbour, will also need male variety to guarantee a generous berry crop.

Informal arrangements