With Pointed Leaves

Yesterday, as is my usual habit on a Saturday morning, I read Nigel Colborn's gardening column in the Daily Mail. He wrote an interesting piece on hollies in our gardens. This prompted me to think about how the Ilex aquifolium, meaning with pointed leaves has a really undervalued role in our Pennine garden. It can clearly tolerate a variety of planting locations and as such it has served a range of understated but very useful functions.

The specimen to the left forms part of the boundary between ourselves and the neighbours. It is currently adorned with the bright red berries that are synonymous with the holly and which are much appreciated by the bird and animal life in the garden. Of course, both male and female plants are required if the tree is to produce its berries.

At the front of the house the hollies serve to mask the rather functional and not to pretty brick steps. They are particularly valuable because their evergreen nature distracts the eye somewhat from what is now rapidly becoming a rather bare looking cotoneaster plant. The evergreen characteristic is the reason why the pre Christians are thought to have believed that bringing inside boughs of the holly tree would ensure a return of Spring after the winter. It is connected to the integral magical powers that allowed the holly to retain its leaves. Of course, like many pagan traditions it has since been incorporated into Christian beliefs so that the berries are now symbolic of the blood of Christ and the sharp points (of many but not all hollies) represents the crown of thorns.

Elsewhere the hollies serve to give that all important winter structure, such as as backdrop for the ornamental grasses. As you can see they are in need of a trim not least because the holly is actually a tree and will keep growing if not kept pruned. However, this is not a major task  because most hollies grow at only a modest rate, but my top tip would be to plant with a medium to long term view and get a decent pair of gardening gloves.

Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) had some advice about the best spot to plant,  in  “Historia naturalis”, an encyclopedic study of plants and animal life, he noted that if Holly is planted near a house or farm, it would repell poison and defended it from lightning and witchcraft. You might want to bare this in mind as well.


The hollies we have at the front have lovely variegated leaves. These are particularly nice, as when using the steps, at the front or side of the house, you are certain to get a good close up view of these lovely and underrated garden plants. 

I am often guilty of giving too much time and attention to my garden specimens that are either "flashy" or rather tricky to grow. But Nigel Colborn has reminded me not to take the plants that do well, without much fuss, for granted.