Holly me hello

In my opinion, the most appropriate place to plant these is next to an entrance so visitors can appreciate them as they come and go during the busy holiday season.

To get those plump clusters of festive red berries we so admire, it’s necessary to pair up the sexes.

Holly is dioecious, which means there are male and female reproductive organs in separate plants.

Just plant one male to many females, as it is the female that develops the berries. It’s always been my experience that the female plants are much more vigorous and larger growing than the male plants, but if they are not carrying berries it may be difficult to tell the male from the female.

In spring, when the plants are in bloom, the males have flowers with three to seven clusters. Female plants have single flowers with a pleasant odor.

The male can be placed a maximum of 30 to 40 feet away from the females.

One of the reasons for keeping track of the sexes is connected with the custom of bringing holly in before Christmas Eve. The Welsh believed this practise caused quarrels, whereas some Germans and English thought that the choice of a male or female bough in the dwelling indicated whether the husband or wife would rule during the coming year.

Long ago, the pagans of Europe took sprays of holly into their homes each winter so that the tiny, imaginary peoples of the woodland hiding in these evergreens would be safe from the cold. Later, holly was used as holiday decor to give the good fairies and elves a place to hide as they did their good deeds.

The shrub has plenty of religious connotations as well. European Christians believed that the spiny leaves and red berries were a reminder of the crown of thorns and the blood of Christ. The Pennsylvania Dutch thought that the plant's white flowers represented Jesus' purity. It was called Christdorn, Christ's crown of thorns by the Germans. They thought holly had white berries until they were stained by Christ's blood.

Growers now offer grafted cultivars, which provide gardeners with two sexes on one bush, but the majority of holly bushes you’ll see available will either be male or female. Some of the more attractive cultivars have been the variegated introductions.

Remember that with variegated cultivars, it’s important to prune out any solid green leaves that appear in subsequent years.