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The Rural Voice, 1993-12, Page 48Gardening Deck the halls with boughs of holly by Rhea Hamilton -Seeger Every year at this time I scout around for an evergreen tree that needs a little pruning. The greens are not wasted but are first used to decorate the house for those festive days in December and then carefully placed in the garden to protect the perennials for the rest of the winter season. The custom of decorating our homes and churches with evergreens is older than Christ Himself. Despite all that we know about biology there still remains, to me, a certain amount of mystery and mysticism surrounding plants that retain their leaves during those cold and dark winter months. Is it any wonder that we have given some significance to these plants? Ancient Romans decorated their homes and temples with evergreens during the midwinter Satumalia. Christians adopted the custom and gave it new meaning. Evergreen foliage became the symbol of immortality, the wreath with no beginning and no end exemplified eternal life. A wreath of holly represented Christ's crown of thorns and its berries drops of blood. Holly was considered the opposite of ivy. English writers pointed out that the holly belonged in the Christian home and church and the Bacchanalian ivy to the inn. The holly was considered male and quite sturdy whereas ivy was female and clinging. I only tell you what I read! With all this powerful symbolism and the very obvious attraction during the dead of winter 1 have looked into planting holly to cut for our own Christmas use. The popular variety that we buy in the florist shops is English holly that is grown in British Columbia and some milder areas in the Maritimes. My Dad, who lives in Goderich, grows English holly in his garden. It can be quite fickle he tells me. One year it can be lush and green and perfect for Christmas decorating and the next brown and spotty. So I looked into other holly varieties and unfortunately there are 44 THE RURAL VOICE very few that are hardy here in Canada. Some will survive in areas outside their normal range if planted in protected locations or given special protection in winter, especially in the Maritimes. The English holly is the most popular and needs a moist climate. To ensure that you have the lovely red berries you need a minimum of two plants since the sexes are on separate plants and both are needed to ensure that berries are produced. However I have read that there are some varieties that will produce fruits without pollination. Hollies grow well in any good garden soil that is well drained. Let's look at some varieties. The family name for holly is Ilex and there is only one variety native to Canada — Inkberry. It has lustrous dark green leaves and small black berries. It can be found wild in certain parts of Nova Scotia. If you have access to a hardiness map this holly is hardy to Zone 5b (Huron County is in Zone 5). The American holly grows naturally into tree form and needs heavy mulching or other form of winter protection so it may be hard to take clippings for Christmas if it is all under wraps. The leaves are dull green and it needs the male plant nearby to produce the bright berries. The Japanese holly is a small - leaved evergreen, low growing with black berries but only hardy to Zone 6 (south of Massachusetts west to south Ohio, Indiana etc.). There are several selections but none of them resemble the popular English holly. Another member of the holly family is Winterberry which is native to eastern Canada and is hardy to Zone 3 which runs north of the Great Lakes. Sounds great but a major drawback is that the leaves fall during the winter months leaving the bright red berries behind. I checked out our local landscape centre and there have been some great advances made in holly breeding. The hardy American holly has been chosen and from this stock you will find the popular Blue Prince and Princess. They have the traditional ragged -edged leaves and berries. Another name to look for is China Boy and China Girl which also has the more traditional looking leaf. Northern Beauty resembles the boxwood in leaf and has no berries. These all have to be planted in sheltered spots with partial to full shade. They will thrive in a well drained acid soil. Their worst enemy is the drying sun in the middle of winter. Holly at Christmas is part of the Victorian Christmas picture that we all like to buy into. In recent years the image of pioneers and hardy Canadians at Christmas includes the use of our wonderful conifers and their variety of pine cones. I must admit we only have plastic holly in our home but fill the house with live evergreen boughs to bring in the clean scent of the outdoors. If you can find a sheltered spot in your garden for a bit of holly it is well worth the effort. For the rest of us we will have to focus our attention on other evergreens to use in our homes during the festive season and to enjoy the rest of the year.0 Rhea Hamilton -Seeger, in addition to working in advertising production for The Rural Voice, raises two children, and is a skilled cook and gardener.