HOLLY, particularly English holly, Ilex aquifolium, is enjoyed at Christmas as the top seasonal decoration in most homes. But in the garden it has special attributes that go beyond the festive season. Its variety of berry colour and foliage hue and shape make them worthwhile for a range of garden situations.

Which plants to choose

In the whole genus there are about 400 species and many hundreds of cultivars of evergreen and deciduous trees. Common English holly, Ilex aquifolium , has 150 cultivars. Holly is slow-growing and in most gardens it is used as hedging, specimen tree or bush, but there are weeping forms and it tolerates clipping into formal shapes.

Your choice will depend on berry colour, foliage colour and how you want to use the holly. Among the best forms for berries are I.

aquifolium ‘Amber’ that has large bronze-yellow fruits; I. aquifolium ‘Aurifodina', with scarlet berries; ‘Bacciflava’, with yellow berries and ‘Pyramidalis Fructu Luteo’, an Award of Garden Merit plant, with abundant yellow berries.

Box-leaved or Japanese holly, Ilex crenata, comes in very distinctive forms and has glossy dark green and small oval leaves, with toothed margins. Most are compact and slow-growing and if female, produce small black berries.

Ilex crenata ‘Helleri’ makes a low mound -shaped bush, while ‘Mariesii’ is a very slow-growing dwarf form that may eventually grow to two metres. They are useful as landscape and hedging plants, especially in small gardens and if you want to get away from the classic variegations in holly choose a variegated box-leaved holly such as Ilex crenata ‘Variegata’. It has golden foliage and will glow with light wherever you place it in a small garden. Where space is limited the upright form 'Carolina Upright’ is slow-growing but will reach 2 metres in time, making a sentinel, specimen display.

Relatively new to our gardens is deciduous holly, grown for its winter berries on bare stems. They are not widely available as plants, but cut stems are usually seen at florists and flower markets during the festive season.

There are a few nurseries listed in The Plant Finder that sell them and they are well worth the growing. They lose their leaves in autumn and winter, when their profuse and strongly coloured fruits make a dazzling show of colour.

They combine well with garden evergreens.

Several species are on offer including Ilex decidua ‘Warren Red’ with glossy dark leaves and deep red berries and Ilex verticillata, obtainable in a range of red and orange berries.

If it is silver variegated foliage you want there are several common hollies to choose from.

Ilex aquifolium ‘Argentea Marginata’ has foliage with silvery-white edges. In addition, it berries well and in spring its new stems and shoots are flushed pink. ‘Handsworth New Silver’ has purple stems and elongated grey-grey mottled leaves with a milky-white edge . Also attractive are ‘Silver Milkmaid’, with spiny leaves showing silvery-white central markings, ‘Silver Queen’, which has dark purple stems, and mottled leaves with milky-white edges and ‘Silver van Tol’, with creamy-white edges to its leaves.

For golden-leaf effects there are many to use as specimens in a lawn or in a mixed shrub border. Among them are ‘Golden van Tol’, with yellow-gold edges to leaves, ‘Madame Briot’, with prickly edged leaves, highlighted with a pronounced yellow margin and Ilex x altaclerensis ‘Golden King’.

Altaclerenis or Highclere hollies are a particular good because the foliage doesn’t have a typical holly prickle. It is very popular with flower arrangers, as it is easy to work with.

An all-round favourite for the garden is ‘J.C.

van Tol’ a self-fertile holly, which is not quite so prickly as common holly and crops reliably and well, annually.

Holly is often used as an impenetrable hedging and the most ferocious one to choose is the hedgehog holly, Ilex aquifolium ‘Ferox’ with spines on the leaf surfaces as well as at leaf How to grow holly?

Holly thrives on most well-drained soils in sun or shade, but deciduous hollies do better on non-alkaline soil. Variegated hollies will tolerate partial shade and look superb where they light up any gloomy corners.

Plant into well prepared, manured soil and water young plants well in their first year of growth and thereafter in periods of drought.

There is no need to feed, but a weed-suppressing, moisture-retaining mulch may be useful from spring onwards.

Keep the base of the plants weed-free as they establish.

Prune out dead, damaged or diseased wood in spring. In winter cut sprigs and branches to bring indoors for decorations at Christmas.

Never take more than a third of the branches with berries or you will lessen the berry production the following year. Space hedge plants to 45cm apart and provide a hessian and cane cover in winter for young plants.

Trim them in July or August once they are established and growing well. Use secateurs and cut individual stems, rather than damage leaves. Don’t forget to wear gloves to protect your skin!

A question of sex

In hollies male and female flowers are generally found on separate plants, but one or two cultivars are self-pollinating.

In most garden situations you should grow male and female trees if the female trees are to bear fruit. But you need to be sure that the plant you have bought is male or female, and the common names of holly are not helpful in this respect.

For example ‘Golden Queen’ is a male tree, as is ‘Silver Queen’ and plants sold as ‘Silver Milkboy’ have proved to be female and now should be sold as ‘Silver Milkmaid’. Ilex aquifolium ‘J.C. van Tol’ is a self-pollinating variety of common holly.

On a commercial scale holly orchardists use one male to pollinate up to 50 female trees, so in densely populated urban and suburban areas there may already be enough males to go around.

If you want good berry production and have the space for two trees, don’t take any chances, buy two that you know to be a male and a female or settle for ‘J.C. van Tol’.

Even when you have the right combinations, it will take time for the female to produce berries.

It takes up to six years for the plant to reach maturity. After this it will produce fruits regularly.

Beating the birds
Birds tend to leave orange and yellow berries to last, choosing the red berries first.

Pick what you want to use for the festive season ahead of time, particularly if you think the birds will strip the trees bare, and if you are brave enough to cut the holly well before Christmas Eve.

Store it in boxes in between sheets of polythene in a mouse-proof, cool site until you begin to decorate the house.

If it is a small quantity and you have the space, store them in the freezer until you need them.