I've come to the decision after a long time mulling it over, to remove the variegated holly in my back yard. I kept it because the it gave the birds some winter food, but last year they hardly ate any. Which was strange because it was a very cold winter. I can only assume that there was better food elsewhere, that people in the 'hood were feeding them. I like the holly, but this is a small garden and its really outgrown its welcome. Hollies are a bit of an iconic plant in this part of town. When it was a wealthy suburb with large villas and gardens, hollies were often planted as hedges to keep the proles away. It was also part of that colonial thing about reproducing England in the southern hemisphere. My holly grows in the sunniest most sheltered part of the garden, which is probably why it has rocketed away, but I'd rather have the area to grow fruit trees and vegetables. The ground underneath it is thick with prickly dried leaves, very annoying if I have to weed under it, and every scrap of fertiliser I put on the veg goes straight to the holly. It is such a handsome tree though; I still feel that I might regret it if I take it down.
No regrets for the arboreal horror that looms on the other side of the garden. This is a damson plum that has some kind of disease, only producing hideously scabbed and deformed fruit. It looms on the boundary like something from Mirkwood, a tree that zombies would hide in. The ivy makes it truly creepy (creepery?). Unfortunately, the fruit has enough vigor to seed itself all over the garden, equally diseased little blighters that are tough as nails. The Damson From Hell.
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