December is a time when traditionally we have brought greenery into our homes as festive decorations. Prominent amongst these are the Holly and the Ivy, made famous by the Christmas carol. However, you may be getting more than you bargained for; when you bring in the holly, check the leaves to see if there are any holly leaf miners present. The mines appear as raised pale green or white areas of the leaf, becoming browner later. They are made by the larvae of small flies that live within the leaf all winter, with the adult fly emerging next spring. I don’t have holly leaf miners in my garden, but I did find leaf miners on my hazel tree – larvae of a small moth known as the Nut-tree Pygmy. Their tunnels, or mines, can be seen meandering through the leaf and getting steadily larger, with the golden larvae at the ends of the tunnels.
Ivy plants, in addition to being decorative, are also very useful to the wildlife in your garden. They flower rather later than most garden plants and are still producing nectar well into November, although they only flower after 8 to 10 years. With so few flowers producing nectar in the autumn, ivy flowers are a boon for several species of bee, butterfly, hoverfly and moth. One species to look out for is the ivy bee, first recorded in Britain in 2001 on the south coast. It has been spreading steadily northwards since then and has recently been recorded in Worcestershire and Staffordshire, so it is only a matter of time before we see it around here. Look out for a pretty bee with distinctive orange bands on its abdomen, feeding on ivy flowers late in the year, and you could be the first to record this species in Leicestershire.
Mistletoe is another plant that is frequently brought indoors at Christmas and it too has an interesting story. It is a parasite that attacks a variety of tree species, but particularly apple, lime, hawthorn and poplar. I tried to introduce it onto an apple tree in my garden, smearing several berries onto areas of the tree where some damage was apparent. Although some of the seeds produced a specialised root, or haustorium, which penetrated the branch (as shown here) none of them survived to form a mature plant.
The reason that these three plants have traditionally been used for decoration at this time of year is that they are amongst the most prominent plants in the countryside in winter, being evergreen and having robust leaves. The use of holly and ivy dates back to pagan times, with holly being thought of as a male plant and ivy representing the female side. Rumour has it that disputes between the two can be settled by a kiss under the mistletoe.
December is a time when traditionally we have brought greenery into our homes as festive decorations. Prominent amongst these are the Holly and the Ivy, made famous by the Christmas carol. However, you may be getting more than you bargained for; when you bring in the holly, check the leaves to see if there are any holly leaf miners present. The mines appear as raised pale green or white areas of the leaf, becoming browner later. They are made by the larvae of small flies that live within the leaf all winter, with the adult fly emerging next spring. I don’t have holly leaf miners in my garden, but I did find leaf miners on my hazel tree – larvae of a small moth known as the Nut-tree Pygmy. Their tunnels, or mines, can be seen meandering through the leaf and getting steadily larger, with the golden larvae at the ends of the tunnels.
Ivy plants, in addition to being decorative, are also very useful to the wildlife in your garden. They flower rather later than most garden plants and are still producing nectar well into November, although they only flower after 8 to 10 years. With so few flowers producing nectar in the autumn, ivy flowers are a boon for several species of bee, butterfly, hoverfly and moth. One species to look out for is the ivy bee, first recorded in Britain in 2001 on the south coast. It has been spreading steadily northwards since then and has recently been recorded in Worcestershire and Staffordshire, so it is only a matter of time before we see it around here. Look out for a pretty bee with distinctive orange bands on its abdomen, feeding on ivy flowers late in the year, and you could be the first to record this species in Leicestershire.
Mistletoe is another plant that is frequently brought indoors at Christmas and it too has an interesting story. It is a parasite that attacks a variety of tree species, but particularly apple, lime, hawthorn and poplar. I tried to introduce it onto an apple tree in my garden, smearing several berries onto areas of the tree where some damage was apparent. Although some of the seeds produced a specialised root, or haustorium, which penetrated the branch (as shown here) none of them survived to form a mature plant.
The reason that these three plants have traditionally been used for decoration at this time of year is that they are amongst the most prominent plants in the countryside in winter, being evergreen and having robust leaves. The use of holly and ivy dates back to pagan times, with holly being thought of as a male plant and ivy representing the female side. Rumour has it that disputes between the two can be settled by a kiss under the mistletoe.