My next door but one neighbour has planted a holly bush in his front garden and this year for the first time it has had berries - a good sign he says because now he knows for sure that it is berry-bearing
I think most of us love the holly - and not just because of Christmas - although especially at this time. I was reminded as I wander my way through Ronald Blythe just how important the holly bushes were to the farmer. There are still holly bushes/small trees in our hedges on the farm; they were never cut when the hedges were cut for the simple reason that they served a purpose. Trimmed back by all means but they were needed in the days of the ploughing with horses (and on the rare occasion when the farmer ploughed a field he still used them for the purpose). In the days when the plough was pulled by heavy horses the holly bush was the marker to make the first straight furrow down the field.
Blythe talks of the farm workers exchanging the ploughing for digging the trenches in the mud of the dreadful first World War and of still working with the horses. When the use of horses died out on the farm and the tractor came in the whole face of farming changed. My farmer's Dad used to still talk with affection of the old heavy horses they had over the years - their names, their temperaments, how they worked. They were as much part of the family as was the dog who worked the sheep.
Now as new people arrive by the score into the countryside I wonder just how many look at the holly bushes standing upright above the hedges and left higher although cut back neatly when the hedge is trimmed and realise that they were there for a purpose. I bet the blackbirds know where every single bush is.
Even when tractor ploughing a marker in the hedge is still used to get the first straight furrow and your eye is focussed on that and that alone. I have never known that it had to be a holly tree, any tree or stick was used by my brothers.
ReplyDeleteAnd now they all have GPS in their tractor cabs which lets them know if they go off line and what the soil is like and if it needs more or less fertiliser and probably even more bits of information that I don't know about.
ReplyDeleteHollies, or at least our native hollies here in Virginia, also have beautiful grey bark and a distinctive tree shape. We have 2 in our front garden that grew from seed after we moved in and began expanding shrub beds and shrinking the lawn. Now 40 years on the hollies are pretty big. The one downside is the prickly leaves - stepping on one barefoot, or grabbing one without gardening gloves, can be quite a painful shock.
ReplyDeleteCeci
There are two berry bearing holly trees in our garden here and the birds love them. Most of the berries have already been eaten.
ReplyDeleteI have a fondness for holly as my sister and I scattered Dad's ashes beneath a small holly bush in the local Garden of Remembrance back home.
Yes, those who have navigation in tractors will always get a straight furrow. Many farmers around here still use older tractors and the stick and hanky in the hedge method.
ReplyDeleteLove the holly…we had one at our first home…one we bought…it is not there anymore…lovely bushes…
ReplyDeleteWe have holly trees in our garden, but too close to an ancient lane to be used as a marker for ploughing. I imagine the seeds were just dropped by birds. No berries either, which is a shame.
ReplyDeleteOnce again I learn something from your posts. Having lived in the countryside for most of my life and walked many a footpath and lane, I never knew that reason for the upright holly trees amongst the hedges. The hedges were varied, to be sure, but I idly wondered if that was to give the birds a food source and shelter. Thank you for enlightening me - and many others, I suspect.
ReplyDelete-Rosemary x
I loved reading this - thank you
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
I have two low growing holly bushes planted very close to my front door. You need a male and a female plant to produce berries on the female. I've read that people in long ago times planted holly near their entry doors to keep evil spirits out. All I know is that visitors to my house often comment cheerfully on my holly when they come to the door. So holly seems to lifts spirits if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteHollies are mostly either male bushes or female bushes and so if you haven't got both near each other, the female bush will not bear berries.
ReplyDeleteTo confuse things even more the variegated variety "Golden King" is a female bush and "Golden Queen" is a male variety.
I see that you are still promoting that Ronald Blythe book.
I was able to return my copy.Disappointing.I thought it was a misleading title.More to do with Church matters than countryside. Should have realised when I read the Archbishop of Canterbury's name at the front of the book.
DeleteI didn't know that holly was used as a marker for farmers, though I do know that large trees were used as markers perhaps for boundaries. I do recall possibly seeing the first tractor in our locality after the war. It was ploughing the field on the other side of my grandmother's hedge.
ReplyDeleteI remember a large holly bush in my grandmother's garden that had been clipped to form a recess for a small table and two little benches. Another holly bush became a 'den'for my cousins and I in which we would eat our lunch, disregarding the black bits that dropped down onto it!
My favorite posts are your wanders through time.
ReplyDeleteThe red berries against the shiny leaves also makes the holly a beautiful accent in any garden. They definitely draw the eye. It is not surprising that some farmers used them to mark their fields. I once had several holly bushes and was even told the deer would not eat them. Unfortunately, during a sever winter, the deer were starving and ate the leaves off hollies. Today, I have no holly bushes.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year💐 Father-in-law would talk about the big shire horses he worked with . 🥕🍏How he would go to the field gate with an apple or a carrot .🐎 Then a rumbling , ground shaking thunder as they galloped across the field ...and just as you thought they might crash through , they would come to a sudden stop at the gate 🐴 x Debbie x
ReplyDeleteGulp!!
DeleteLovely lot of information in your comments - thank you all - especially you Rachel. And yes Derek - I shall continue to promote Ronald Blythe's book until I finish it. Every single article brings forth something for me to look up or think about.
ReplyDeleteThe new people probably won't know about the holly unless the old people tell them the stories.
ReplyDeleteIn my part of the world most farmers have opted for a “no Plough” approach - it is amazing how the soil improves when it isn’t ploughed
ReplyDeleteI am often able to strike new plants from beautiful flower arrangements that family have thoughtfully sent me for one reason or another over the years. My dear mother in law sent a Christmas arrangement this year, and I am attempting to get cuttings of the holly started. I didn't know about male and female holly plants. Interesting! -Pam, Aust.
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to hear about your days with the farmer.
ReplyDeleteLove reading your post Weave, they are really interesting and we have learnt so much.
ReplyDeleteI was delighted when a self/bird sown holly in my garden flowered and berries formed. My own home grown Christmas wreath I thought until the berries turned yellow.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t know that about holly, Pat.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always disliked having it in the garden because the points on the leaves are just as painful to gather up even when they’re old and skeletal. But now I appreciate its importance as a tree - still prefer not to own one though!
I had no idea that the holly was used as a marker. It makes sense if they were easily visible, especially if they had the berries on them at that time.
ReplyDeletethat last line sounds like it should be in a poem. In my research into the folklore of holly, I read that in old times the farmers would cut back holly, so that there woud be green shoots for the livestock to eat. but that was probably in a much earlier time than your memory of the holly and ploughing. I enjoyed this post very much, and will be looking for those holly trees this coming year when I am in England again.
ReplyDeleteOh how much I looked forward to the Holidays to see the Holly in the shops. We don'd grow it here but we have Pyracantha, small dark green leaves and bright red berries.
ReplyDeletecheers !
I found a small Holly in the woods, took it home, and planted it in the garden. It never had berries, and I was obliged to buy 'tie-on' berries to add to the branches. Back in England, in Shropshire, we had a huge Holly tree that was always covered with berries. One Christmas I went down to gather a few branches and found that the whole tree had gone! Gypsies!
ReplyDeleteI planted a holly bush in our garden. I'm guessing it's been there about twenty years. Until last year it never had berries then suddenly it has and it has berries again this year too. I decorate it for Christmas to cheer up people passing by the house in the darkest days of winter.
ReplyDeleteSuch interesting comments tank you. I would point out that we rarely ploughed being a dairy and sheep farm as are most farms in the Dales but during world war two the fields were often ploughed and set with food crops here and there.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post. When I walk in future I’ll keep a lookout near ploughed fields for holly tree markers. It’s sad to me that so few people seem to be in touch with nature these days. Thanks for the post Pat.
ReplyDeleteI had to go look it up to be sure, but holly plants are male and female. There will be no berries without the opposite sex.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post, Pat! I, too, love holly bushes and we've had them on our properties except when we lived in Texas.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I loved about watching Yorkshire Vet was seeing those massive working horses. I hope people are intentionally keeping those breeds alive.
Hugs!
Sorry Caz - several of my regulars agree with you - viz. Rachel and Derek. Being a Humanist I have no interest in religion as such but I do see the Bible and the references Blythe gives in his work as interesting from a poetic point of view and have never found them anything other than an intrinsic part of his work.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you all for your interesting replies.