Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: Ilex aquifolium

  • The holly and the …

    The holly and the …

    Need I go on? You must be so familiar with the Christmas carol. Holly, traditionally a masculine plant compared with the feminine ivy, although holly is what is called dioecious, meaning that individual trees are either male or female. Flowers occur on both male and female trees but only the female trees have berries and…

  • Deck the hall with boughs of holly ….

    Deck the hall with boughs of holly ….

    On shrub clearance on Bridestones Moor and a large holly tree is amongst the casualties. Oh dear, it’s considered bad luck to fell a holly tree. But I didn’t actually fell it. The cutting of boughs to deck the halls is acceptable as is pollarding for use as winter fodder. Very nutritional apparently. Which leads…