Holly is one of the classic Christmas plants. With its thick, shiny leaves and bright red berries, it instantly makes you feel festive. Though you’ll more commonly find holly outside, this variety is happy indoors over Christmas. Bring her into a lobby or garage in the weeks prior to Christmas and then move her back outdoors after hardening off.

There are over 550 different varieties of Holly, growing all over the world. This one, ‘Blue Princess’, is so called because its leaves are so dark they look almost blue in the right light. Like all holly trees, its leaves are prickly and its berries are toxic if eaten, so it’s recommended you keep it away from small children and animals.

This is a pretty easy plant to look after. Try to keep its soil lightly moist and give it a feed once per month in spring and summer, to help it grow healthily. That’s about it. It will grow quite quickly, so snip off any stems that get too long.

This plant can happily live outside, but it’s best not to move it straight from a warm house to the cold outside. If you want to move it outside after Christmas, either wait until spring, when the weather’s warmer, or introduce it to the cold gradually.

Did you know?

Holly trees can live for over 500 years.