A berry prickly problem - can I harvest holly from a hedge?

I am not sure if this is a moral question or a legal one - probably both. But I am sure a Horticultural reader out there will know the answer.

We've decided against a Christmas tree this year - with a newly-crawling baby in the house who is attracted to anything sparkly and likely to topple over, it seemed like a sensible move. My substitute is going to be a Christmas bouquet-type thing featuring stems of scarlet and lime Dogwood from the garden, some teasels I picked (possibly sprayed silver), rosehip branches, and some holly - with red berries, of course. (Yes, I know I've left it late, but I don't believe in jumping the gun on festivities. That's my excuse, anyway).

I've heard that the price of holly is high this year because of a poor harvest, but I know where I can get some for free. There's a thick holly hedge bordering a public park in my town, loaded with lots of lovely berries. But am I free to gather some? It's accessible from the pavement, so I won't have to trespass ... but who does the holly belong to? I looked at this advice on foraging on the law on Fergus Drennan's Wild Man Wild Food site but really am none the wiser. It certainly seems from this piece in the Guardian and this on the Newsnight blog that it's a bit of a legal minefield.

Bearing in mind that I won't be trying to profit from the holly, Grundy family-style*, I'd love to know whether you think I'm within my rights to take a few sprigs. And I will, of course, put them outside for the birds once Christmas is over.

*This is a reference to the BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers - just ignore if you're not a regular listener. it'd take too long to explain. If you are, tell me this - is Adam and Debbie's bio-digester scheme good or evil?

Comments

[Louise]

no advice re holly but i do think the teasels would look better sprayed gold rather than silver. just a suggestion.

[kethry]

Don't know the legalese about this stuff, just wanted to say that i do this every year too. There's a large holly bush (large as in, bigger than me. several times over) near where i live, walk the dog past every day, and i clip some holly from there every year for my decorations. its not on land owned by anyone (public footpath) so i figure.. its okay. However. I seem to vaguely remember reading somewhere that holly is very slow growing, take too much and you kill the plant. Whether that's true or not, i don't know, and i'm sure you wouldn't take that much, but its something to check out/bear in mind.

keth
xx

[John Curtin]

Can't advise on the legals Jane but maybe you could enjoy a walk in Battersea Park and buy a chilli Christmas wreath from Thrive on Dec 22 - I've blogged about it! Cheers. John.

[Woody Wilbury]

Hmm. All land is owned by someone. Even a public park is 'owned' in a strictly legal sense. So the holly belongs to the owner of the ground in which it is growing and taking it without permission is, technically, theft. But I wouldn't bother too much about that (see my previous post about the apples!), provided you don't take disproportionate quantities. I'd still be a bit surreptitious about it though. People can be surprisingly fierce about stuff being taken from public parks!