Holly for the Holiday
At this time of year, Alana Brahler invites friends and family to stop by and trim her family's tree. They don't bring ornaments and lights, but pruning shears.
Afterward, they go home and deck their halls with boughs from the enormous American holly tree that has long stood on Brahler's property on Sundale Avenue.
"Some people come and take it to decorate for special events. I always put it around my Nativity, and it is very pretty," said Brahler.
It also is a Brahler tradition to use the tree as a backdrop for family photographs, especially when snow is on the ground, she said.
Her 7-year-old grandson, Lake Pry of West Sunbury, marks the seasons by the tree. He knows Christmas is coming when the green berries appear.
Holly berries ripen from September through December and remain on the tree through most of the winter unless consumed by birds.
Holly trees can grow to more than 80-feet-tall. Brahler's tree is about 20 feet high.
There are more than 500 varieties of holly in the world, but only 20 or 30 grow in the United States.
Brahler's tree, like many growing in Butler County, is a hybrid strain called Grace American holly, developed right in Butler County by Orlando Pride, a graduate of Butler High School. He established the Orlando S. Pride nursery in Penn Township after graduating in 1928 from Penn State University."Most of the holly trees planted in Butler in the '50s were bought from Mr. Pride. That's why there are several large trees around here," said Charlie Hinchberger, who now co-owns the nursery on Weckerly Road."I take particular notice as I travel, and you don't see near the amount of holly trees as are in Butler landscapes. I have people who come in from out of town to hunt and they get all excited when they see volunteer hollies growing in the wild in the woods. The birds carry the seeds to the woods nearby the nursery," he said.Pride, sometimes called Mr. Holly, made a name for himself in the horticulture world by hybridizing holly. He grew more than 20,000 seedlings to produce 25 worthy of being named.The American Horticulture Society has listed 11 of the strains in its Holly Handbook, and the American Holly Society credits Pride for producing the "hardiest American hollies in commerce.""Mr. Pride is credited with extending the northern range of holly more than 500 miles. Before that, inland American holly was not hardy enough to survive any farther north than Virginia," Hinchberger said.Hinchberger took over the nursery in 1987 after Pride's death in 1983. His partner, Bob Yates, joined the company in 1993.Today Hinchberger has between 20,000 and 30,000 trees growing on 60 acres of fields. The plants are sold wholesale to nurseries around the country.The tallest trees, which are 30 feet, were planted in the early 1930s, he said, noting holly is slow-growing compared to other evergreens.
In some parts of Britain, holly was once referred to merely as "Christmas," and in pre-Victorian times the term Christmas trees referred specifically to holly bushes.Like several other native trees, it was noted for its protective properties, and there were taboos against cutting down a whole tree.According to articles on www.treesforlife.org.uk, the Duke of Argyll even had a prospective road rerouted to avoid cutting down a distinctive old holly in 1861.Although the felling of whole trees was said to bring bad luck, the taking of boughs for decoration, and the coppicing of trees to provide winter fodder, was allowed.Holly was, and still is, brought into the house for its shiny green leaves and berries during the dark days of Yule, but it has another significance as well.Christian symbolism connected the prickly leaves with Jesus' crown of thorns and the berries with the drops of blood shed for humanity's salvation, as is related, for example, in the carol "The Holly and the Ivy."The lyric refers to a pre-Christian celebration, where a boy would be dressed in a suit of holly leaves and a girl similarly in ivy, to parade around the village, bringing nature through the darkest part of the year to re-emerge for another year's fertility.For using holly in the future, Hinchberger had some tips for those who might be buying holly plants this Christmas."If they are (selecting) holly themselves as in any evergreen in Western Pennsylvania, it's nice to find one with a single stem so that the snow loads don't split them out. Pull the branches apart and look (to see if the trunk is split)," he recommended.When transplanting holly plants, Hinchberger recommends watering as soon as the ground gets dry. "They like moist but well-drained soil," he said.
