Holly with berries for Christmas

jennyo

No the birds don't seem to eat the ones on the floor, although I am no bird expert I would think it would be due to vulerability.

AmberLilly_2

I don't know about where you lot all live but all the holly trees near me (north of Birmingham) are still covered. It was a bumper crop this year which is supposed to signal a hard winter. Time will tell, in the mean time I am planning on cutting my Holly next week x

serious_saver

AmberLilly wrote: »

I don't know about where you lot all live but all the holly trees near me (north of Birmingham) are still covered. It was a bumper crop this year which is supposed to signal a hard winter. Time will tell, in the mean time I am planning on cutting my Holly next week x

We have a reasonable amount here (South Wales) but not as many as a couple of years ago. Forget keeping them for decorations, I'm going to take sprigs into work and sell them to colleagues!

A few years ago my parents had a bumper crop of berries. We were doing a car boot sale anyway and on a whim my father cut down a load of berry covered sprigs. The rest of the car boot sale was a disaster (sold practically nothing) but we made a lovely profit out of the holly. People were phoning up friends and relatives saying "come here there's holly for sale"

My mum had to go home and cut some more off the tree before the morning was over!

Mayflower10cat

Yes, I've also cheated and threaded red beads or plastic berries onto my denuded holly sprigs! I've also used cotoneaster berries which don't seem to be as popular with the birdies, though they do eat them. I've also been very amused to see, from the inside of the part glazed front door, birds helping themselves to berries off a homemade wreath!!!

Rummer

We have a giant holly tree in our garden and I have never thought of bringing any of it in for xmas

jennyo

Just an update - its just over 4 weeks since I cut the holly and put it undercover in water, it looks as fresh as when I took it, and the berries are still good. All the berries are off the tree out side, making decs with it tomorrow.