The holly still bears the crown

'The holly bears a berry, as sweet as any flower", run the words of the Christmas carol, and the shiny leaves of this evergreen tree are just as welcome a sight to the growers who seek to produce holly in sufficient quantities to keep up with the demand at this season of the year.

A nurseryman for whom holly is an important part of his business is Stuart Ranson, who has been harvesting his crop during the past few weeks.

When he set up in business more than 20 years ago, Stuart began by growing bedding plants and vegetable crops, but within a short time decided to specialise in holly and Christmas trees. He also continues to grow the bedding plants on his land at Cote, near Witney.

He had already been growing holly in small quantities from his earliest days at the nurseries and now they are there in some 25 varieties.

There are, in fact, more than 200 varieties of holly. "A lot are impossible to differentiate," said Stuart. "In the wild, there is an infinite number of varieties. The named cultivars are mainly variegated. We only know well the ones we have chosen to grow because they are the most suitable ones for our purposes."

The most useful for decoration include several variations of Ilex Aquifolium, Ilex Ferox, which has fairly sharp points to its leaves, Golden King, Silver Queen, Handsworth Silver and Ilex Lawsonii. Golden King has leaves with deep green centres and golden margins.

Green holly can be grown from seed - most of the trees are grown from cuttings, while the Christmas trees are planted as seedlings. Each variety has its own growing cycle.

"Certain varieties are very easy to grow, but some are more difficult," said Stuart. "Golden Queen is as difficult as it can be. If you get a 15 to 20 per cent success rate, you are doing well."

The varieties Stuart selects for the main production are grown for their colour, their shape and their durability - how long they will stay fresh when cut.

Some holly is also grown for sale as standing trees, which may be of different varieties from those grown for cutting. Holly wreathes sell in large numbers. Another factor is that the varieties chosen have to be those that grow at a reasonable rate.

"Golden Milkboy, for example, a variety with a very small leaf, is very slow growing," says Stuart. "I don't keep much stock of this. The trees are not economic if they are slow-growing, and this variety may grow only two to three inches a year."

Holly is however a long-lived tree. "Those I plant will be there for my lifetime and perhaps for some four generations to come," said Stuart. "They outlive a fair number of other species."

Some customers may come to choose a holly tree to plant in their own garden as a feature of a border or for a good protective hedge.

Holly leaves live for three years and are generally shed in early summer. The aim at the nurseries is to cut the holly on a three-year cycle. The trees are not generally cut back more than the new growth since the last cutting, so that the stock is not too greatly reduced.

Holly has its likes and dislikes, and does best in areas of high rainfall and where there is plenty of moisture in the air. Conditions in the West Country are particularly suitable. Stuart also grows holly on a site in Herefordshire.

It is also better planted at some times of the year than in others, but the ideal time, depending on the variety and ground conditions, is in the autumn. Although liking moisture, it does not like to be waterlogged.

Christmas trees also like moist conditions, particularly flourishing in the heavier rainfall areas such as in Scotland and Ireland. Stuart grows chiefly Norway Spruce, Blue Spruce and the Nordmann Fir varieties, all of which grow sufficiently well in West Oxfordshire.

All have their merits, and all, if kept fresh and not in excessively hot indoor temperatures, should keep their needles until Twelfth Night.

"The Blue Spruce smells wonderful," said Stuart, and this is his choice for his own living room. Although he prefers a tree that is not too bushy and so enables the lights and decorations to be seen at their best advantage, he finds that his customers are more likely to choose a bushy specimen.

Both holly and Christmas trees are sold direct to the public from the Cote nurseries and Stuart also supplies to the wholesale and retail trade.

There is a wide range of sizes, from a tree sold in a pot that may have been growing for two to three years, to a massive specimen that may have been growing for more than 20 years and has a price to match - the choice for town centres, a college, or other institution.

For the greatest likelihood of success with a tree planted in the garden in the New Year, Stuart advises keeping it watered and again in not too hot an atmosphere - and not giving it the sudden shock of a move from a heated indoor to a frosty outdoor environment. Keeping it in a cool garage for a period will give it a chance to acclimatise.

The most popular size among customers tends to be trees of about 6ft to 8ft high, Stuart has found, for which they are paying between £30 and £35.

The third contributor of greenery to the Christmas decorations is the mistletoe, one that is reported to be becoming increasingly rare in the countryside.

Its scarcity has been becoming a matter of concern and, a few winters ago, the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust asked the public to take part in a survey to send in reports of places where they had seen it growing, and reminded them to make sure that the specimens found were not stripped away. The survey resulted in a map drawn up of the reported places.

The disappearance of old orchards has been seen as one of the reasons for its disappearance in those areas.

Stuart acknowledges that it is particularly difficult to grow. In the wild, its appearance will result from a bird which has eaten a mistletoe berry rubbing its beak on a branch, the seed lodging a crevice in the bark, and a new plant beginning to grow. To reproduce this in a nursery is not easy.

"I must have had a hundred or so tries at getting mistletoe to take on a branch. It is said that it will take on hawthorn, lime, plum, apple and willow - a tree on which it grows particularly well on the Somerset levels, where there are lots of willow trees.

"We have most of those trees here, but I have only ever managed to get one piece of mistletoe to grow. That was on a young apple tree. I have tried various means, with the sap rising, the sap falling, and when the tree is dormant and also planting the spores in manure and in peat."

Holly trees and Christmas trees, however, both grow plentifully at Cote. Although it is for its decorative and garden qualities that holly is best known, this is a tree that also produces a dense and hard wood which has been found in a multitude of uses, including for piano keys and billiard cues. It also appears in the patterns of parquetry, often on the cases of clocks.