Happy Christmas to You Hollies and Ivies

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy Christmas, hoping it is a great day for you all.

Two plants associated most with this day are the holly and the ivy and we enjoy having these plants in our garden especially during the winter months.

Let’s start with hollies as we only have a few of them growing here. We have dozens of different ivies. Both hollies and ivies are much loved by birds especially in the winter months when the berries will feed thrushes and blackcaps. The flowers of ivy appearing so late in the year are important for late flying bees and wasps. They also provide shelter and nest sites in spring and summer.

The hollies below are very different to each other. The lollipop trained holly is one of a pair either side of the raised pond and rill. The second one is our native holly which grows in our native hedge. The third is very different as it grows as a sphere and only reach 18 inches or so tall. Its foliage is multi-coloured and changes with the seasons.

We have so many ivies that I have selected just a few of my favourites. Naturally the one most appreciated is our native Hedera helix and most of our collection are H. helix cultivars and selections.