Hedges of Holly 
Hedges of Holly are most amazing, growing more beautiful and useful with the 
years, and requiring so little effort to maintain. For fencing or screening, close 
cropped or free growing, holly hedges are often the perfect answer. And did you 
ever think of hollies serving as barriers to highway noise, absorbing unwanted 
sound waves with uncanny acoustical perfection. 
Speaking of hedges, let me tell you about the famous hedge in Evelyn’s garden 
in Deptford, England. Four hundred feet in length, and nine feet in height by 
five feet in width, it is reliably reported to have suffered some damage when the 
house was rented to Peter the Great of Russia who amused himself by driving 
furiously along the top of the hedge mounted on a wheelbarrow. 
The Holhes in the Winter Time 
The hardiness of the hollies is of especial interest to those who live in colder 
climes where there’s a question of survival. Since our specialty is the culture of the 
English hollies, the discussion will be limited to them. Fortunately the hollies 
are proving to be hardier than anyone dreamed of their being only a few years 
ago. Two circumstances have contributed much to our knowledge of the behavior 
of the hollies in extreme cold temperatures. 
First, here in our almost always ideal Oregon climate we were visited in the 
late winter of 1950 with the coldest temperatures on record with readings of 10 to 
20 below zero and only a few inches of icy snow cover. The cold spell continued 
for six long dreary weeks with the thermometers remaining below the freezing 
point day after day. Much to our surprise and heartfelt relief, our hollies heavily 
draped with icicles came through with flying colors and were thus proven by test 
to be resistant to sub-zero weather. 
Second, we have from time to time, and rather reluctantly at first, succumbed 
to the pressure of persistent holly enthusiasts who were determined to see what 
would happen to their hollies when planted in mile high Denver, or in southern 
New Hampshire, western Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, and at last in nearly 
every state in America. 
Here are some conclusions from actual reported experiences which may help 
you in your decision to plant hollies to your heart’s desire. 
In general the green leafed hollies are hardier than the variegated when exposed 
to zero weather conditions. Hollies are safest from harm in the late weeks of 
winter by which time they will have achieved a maximum state of dormancy. 
The most critical season is when early December storms catch the hollies unawares 
and while still making growth. 
The most sensitive years are when the hollies are first planted, and it is then 
that they need maximum winter protection. The longer a holly remains planted in 
its new environment the better acclimated it will become. Should there be a partial 
die-back from freezing, the hardy hollies will stage a quick recovery at the first 
kiss of spring, and shoot up with strong new growth from the roots. 
Much winter damage results from dehydration of the holly due to the freezing 
of the soil about the feeder roots preventing the normal needed flow of moisture 
through the living cell tissues. This danger can be minimized by extra heavy 
mulching in November to keep the frost level from reaching deeply into the 
earth. A second cause of winter die-back is due to the freezing of the moisture 
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