You'll recall that I was facing a dilemma about whether to collect holly from a local hedge for a Christmas bouquet.
The issue resolved itself when I went back to the hedge in question to discover that either a) I had hugely overestimated the berry count or b) someone got there before me and cut of all the branches laden with berries.
So I bought some lime green chrysanthemums, picked some spotted laurel from the garden along to supplement the lime green and red dogwood stems and teasels I'd already picked.
As you can see the result was adequate but not overwhelmingly Christmassy, which was no great loss as it's still going strong now without looking terribly out of season.
I think that if I want holly in future years, I'll just have to grow my own. There was a rather good article in the Telegraph which has some useful recommendations for varieties.
Why not some lime green 'mums - gets away from the cliched Christmas colours.
If you've lots of dogwood then you could use the stems later in the year as support for beans and peas - though watch out as some will strike and root in the veg patch!
Posted by: John Curtin | January 07, 2008 at 01:16 PM