I have recently developed a weird obsession: a hatred of holly. Nearly everywhere I hike on Bowen Island these days, I see holly trees and bushes. This invasive plant is becoming a serious menace to our island’s botanical endowment. It doesn’t belong here, and it needs to be eradicated!
English Holly was originally brought to Bowen Island by settlers for its jolly red berries and bright green leaves – so perfect for Christmas wreaths and decorations. But its dark side is little known. It spreads easily when birds eat the berries and cast seed-infested droppings far and wide. It also propagates through its roots, creating holly thickets from an original plant and outcompeting many other native species. It’s a water hog, preventing native plants from hydrating especially in summer. It’s inedible to deer and other forest animals because of its prickly leaves and toxic berries. It’s evergreen so grows year-round in Bowen’s temperate climate, enabling its spread in all seasons. And its trees and bushes are impossible to penetrate by humans due to their prickles, while its berries cause vomiting and diarrhea when eaten, even death.
'Holly's highest and greatest use is to be cut down and burnt. | By Haig FarrisIn short, even though it’s pretty to some, English Holly is a nasty piece of botanical work that needs to be eliminated from Bowen or it will spread even further, crowding out native plants and making Bowen forests more and more inhospitable. And that’s why I can be seen on Bowen trails and byways pulling up smaller holly plants by their roots with my thick gloves, cutting holly saplings with my pruning shears and even sawing down larger holly trees with my handsaw and, gasp, chainsaw.
By the way, for those with fireplaces on Bowen, did you know that holly makes the very best firewood of all wood species? It’s the densest of all woods found in North America – even denser than hickory or maple – and so its heat capacity per dry volume is greater than all other wood varieties. When fully dried, it burns hot, slowly and nearly smoke-free and its thin bark is so full of oil that it can even be lit without kindling or paper starter. Holly’s highest and greatest use is to be cut down and burnt.
Holly has no place on Bowen, along with Scotch broom, gorse and Himalayan blackberry. Okay, I give up on blackberry, it’s here for good but at least we can make jams and pies from the berries! Holly has overstayed its welcome – it’s time to get rid of it on Bowen. Please help me satisfy my obsession by aiding me in vanquishing it from our island!
