photography / Diane Sagers The evergreen leaves and bright berries of the holly plant are as much a part of the holiday season as mistletoe and poinsettia. The lively colors brighten the holiday season.

by Diane Sagers

CORRESPONDENT

"But the hue of his every feature

Stunned them: as could be seen,

Not only was this creature

Colossal, he was bright green

No spear to thrust, no shield against the shock of battle,

But in one hand a solitary branch of holly

That shows greenest when all the groves are leafless;"

-- from 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' ca 1370 - 1390, author unknown

The holly giant of the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight reflects the beliefs of the peoples of the time. Holly, with its shiny, dark green leaves and bright red berries, has a long history associated with the winter solstice and also with the Christmas season.

From Ireland, we get Celtic mythology, which included a Holly King who ruled over the period from summer to winter solstice. The Oak King would defeat the Holly King at that time and then he would rule through until summer. The Holly King was a giant, covered in holly leaves and branches who carried a club made of a holly bush. Given the sharp spines on the leaves of some hollies, it would seem a formidable weapon. Perhaps that is the holly giant referred to in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."

Many of our Christmas traditions come from ancient traditions before Christianity converted Europe. Many had to do with the changing seasons. Holly has produced a number of legends and superstitions that have been passed down to us. According to one, holly was inhabited by fairies and gnomes. Nevertheless sprigs of holly were to be brought into the house during the winter. Paradoxically, the holly offered protection from those malevolent sprites that came in with it to find shelter. Bringing in the gnomes and fairies was evidently not a bad thing, but one must be protected from them.

Holly was also once a symbol of fertility. Ancient customs involved dressing a boy in a suit of holly leaves. A young girl, dressed in ivy, paraded with him through the village to bring nature through the winter and return it to spring.

We envision holly as the plant with stiff, prickly leaves and sharp spines. Not all hollies have prickly leaves, however. There are also smooth-leaved varieties. Whichever of the two kinds was brought into the house first dictated who was "boss" over the household for the next year. If the prickly leaved variety came first, the husband could take charge. If smooth, the wife was queen. (And we thought the battle of the sexes was only a current phenomenon.) Put leaves from a female holly with no prickles under your pillow to get answers to your problems through your dreams.

Those sharp spines earned the plant some respect. Holly was considered a protection and it was taboo to cut down an entire holly tree. For many ancient European peoples, holly's protective powers repelled witches, lightning and poison.

England has long been known for its magnificent hedges -- along roadsides, around gardens, as fences around fields. Holly is a significant plant in these hedges in ancient days. Because of its protective powers, it was left untrimmed when the rest of the hedge was clipped. The superstitious said it was a deterrent to witches who ran along the tops of the hedges. It didn't hurt that the bushes stayed green when the rest of the hedge had lost its leaves so that farmers could use them as markers to line up with when doing winter plowing.

Holly was so much a part of Christmas in Britain that folks in some places referred to the bush simply as "Christmas." Thus Christmas trees were holly bushes.

It may have been bad form to remove an entire holly bush, but taking branches to decorate or to feed animals in winter was fine. They provided healthy fare for cattle, and some farmers would grind the leaves to make it easier for the animals to eat.

Old traditions die hard, so when Christianity came to Europe, the church adapted ancient pagan customs into Christianity. Christianity developed a symbolism that connected the prickly leaves with Jesus' crown of thorns, the white flowers with his purity, and the berries with the drops of blood shed for humanity's salvation.

Part of the charm of holly in arrangements is that the dark, shiny leaves make a lovely contrast to the long thin needles of pines, firs, spruce and cedar. It stays green and doesn't drop its leaves even after it dries out. The red berries add a spark of bright color.

In ancient times many believed that if holly decorations were left up after New Year's Day, bad luck would follow. Considering how dry it would get, it would certainly create a fire hazard. The wax in the leaves make it flammable even when still green.

The genus Ilex contains about 300 species of holly native to many areas of the world. We are most familiar with English holly that shows up in Christmas arrangements. To get berries on most varieties, a male pollinator variety must grow next to the female variety. If you want to grow holly and enjoy bright red berries, you must usually grow both a male and female plant.

Holly plants are shrubs that can grow from about a foot high to 50-foot trees. Although we associate this plant with the sharp-spined toothed varieties, leaves can be tiny to large, smooth-edged or toothed and colored plain green variegated. You may find Dutch holly for sale. These are simply hollies without the spines.

Berries are not necessarily the red color we have come to expect. They may be red, black, yellow or orange.

Holly plants may be female (fruit producing) or male, but one of each is generally required to produce berries.

As a rule, hollies require slightly acidic, well-drained, humus-rich soil. That, of course, does not describe Tooele Valley, but that doesn't dissuade us from wanting to grow these shrubs. We can do something about drainage and improving and loosening soil with compost, but it is very difficult to reduce alkalinity.

Fortunately, there are some hollies that will adapt to our alkaline soil. Ilex opeca, American holly, is one that may be available in the West, although it grows primarily in the eastern United States. Ilex vomitoria, yaupon, is a shrub that tolerates extremely alkaline soils better than other hollies. It grows as a large shrub or a small tree of 15 to 20 feet. Sometimes this variety is sheared to a columnar form. It produces tiny scarlet berries without a pollinator plant.

Several varieties are available.

I. vomitora 'Pendula" has weeping branches.

I. vomitora 'Pride of Houston,' is a large shrub or small tree that is upright and freely branching. It makes a screen or hedge.

I. vomitora Nana, may be called Dwarf Yaupon. This compact plant grows to 18 inches tall and about three feet wide.

I. vomitora 'Stokes' (or 'Stokes Dwarf') has dark green, close set leaves and is a compact plant even smaller than 'Nana.'

If you opt to grow one of the more tolerant varieties in this area, do not over-prune. Prune just enough to control size and shape.

Smaller varieties can be adapted to indoor container gardening if planted in a mixture rich in peat moss and organic matter. Water them as the soil surface dries and do what you can to provide a slightly humid environment. They grow best if placed in a sunny south or east window covered by a curtain that will shade them from burning rays that may focus on them through the glass.

An alternative plant has similar characteristics and is quite happy to grow here. You may enjoy growing a variety of Oregon grape -- a plant that is not a holly, but carries some of its characteristics. Best of all, it is well adapted to our native soils and climate. Mahonia repens is a creeping variety and M. aquifolium is more upright. The plant has shiny, green, spiny leaves that turn a purplish-red in the fall. It bears bright yellow flowers in the spring and produces dark blue-black berries with a grayish cast. No pollinator bush is required to produce the berries.