Getting in condition for the holidays

Just a week before Christmas, and I am getting in condition for the holidays. That means amping up my exercise regimen in anticipation of the celebratory effects of chocolate-covered almonds, cardomom bread, and peppermint stick ice cream with hot fudge sauce. And around the house, there are presents to be wrapped, batches of nutty, fruity granola to cook for friends, family, and colleagues, and halls to be decked--in a restrained manner--with holiday greenery.  

 "Blue Princess" holly (Ilex meserveae)

With an allergy to all things glittery, bright red, and swathed in ribbon, I'm a mimimalist in the holiday decoration department. So fresh-cut greens please my palette perfectly. Fortunately, our little yard hosts a variety of yews, hollies, and ivies, so I can pretty much sate my appetite just by picking up a pair of clippers and heading out the back door.

Common yew (Taxus baccata)

Properly conditioned cut greens will last about two weeks indoors, and longer if they are kept out of bright sunlight and at a cool temperature. Since our thermostat is set to 60 degrees during the short grey days of a New England winter, I'm anticipating that this weekend's gathering will easily see us into the New Year.

Conditioning is an oh-so-simple process: just re-cut the branches at a 45 degree angle, crush the cut ends in order to encourage the branches to take up water, and stick the mass of greens in a pitcher of room temperature water.  In a day, they'll be ready to cut down to working size.

Cutting at 45 degree angle

This holiday greenery looks festive in almost every container.  I think that the dark green foliage plays particularly well with pewter- and silver-colored metal.  Flanking our dining room nativity, a couple of family christening cups hold a mixture of hollies and yews.

 

Perched on a living room side table, a blend of "Chesapeake" Japanese holly (Ilex crenata),"Blue Princess" holly, common yew, and little-leaf ivy fills another antique cup.

Sprigs of American holly (Ilex opaca) are nestled among the Christmas tree balls in our holiday centerpiece. I'm clearly not going for the big bells and whistles presentation.



Joyful, joyful!

Fall fruits, writ small

One of my tasks this weekend was to fertilize broadleaf evergreens: hollies, rhododendra, and pieris. According to "Horticulture," this feeding should be done about two weeks before the first frost. Since we hit hard below freezing last night, I figure that I'm late with my chores, as usual. I use about 5 lbs of HollyTone in the fall and close to 10 pounds in the spring.

As I walked from bush to bush--stopping along the way to sprinkle a few handfuls of fertilizer on a bed of pachysandra or over the lilies of the valley--I realized that this garden contains a lot of plants with berries and that those berries fruit in all colors.



Earlier this year, when the front foundation plantings were renovated, my savvy sister-in-law suggested Ilex meserveae "Blue Princess" and "Blue Prince" for this north-facing elevation. These berries testify to the happy home and compatible relationship these hollies have found.

Nearby grow a couple of black-berried Ilex crenata "Chesapeake." How could a Maryland native not honor a variety named after the Bay? Although maybe this holly would prefer a more southern clime, as it is terribly vulnerable to winter kill and begs for a hard pruning every spring.



Another Japanese holly that fares better is this large, late blooming Heller's variety Ilex crenata hellerii. It is just now sporting tiny creamy flowers.



Some of the first bushes that we planted 15 years ago were American hollies, both red-fruited female Ilex opaca "Christmas Tree" and, for company, a yellow-berried male Ilex opaca, variety forgotten.





Some of my favorite hollies are a pair of sparsely fruiting Ilex opaca. These two American hollies were among six softwood cuttings that my mother took a decade ago from hollies growing freely on my in=laws' Cape Cod property. Glossy, well-formed foliage--but all of three berries!