Holly berries

[grenfell]

Perhaps not directly prepping related although in the past I've made a little extra income from selling holly for wreath makers. They prefer holly with plenty of red berries but this year there are hardly any. I was cutting a holly hedge yesterday and got around 8 builders bags of cuttings but the berries would amount to about a handful. I know different factors affect different plants but after a year of trees being over burdened with fruit it just seems a little "disappointing" . Talking of fruits on the road home a little under half a mile away there are sloes on the side of the road and they are more berry than leaf . If they weren't right by the side of the road I'd pick a load but always a bit wary when they areso close to all the road fumes...

[Arzosah]

It must really vary by region. Down here in the south of England, I've seen a couple of holly trees, on the edge of a nature reserve, that were so loaded with berries I took photos - on my phone of course not my laptop, and I won't promise to bring them over

I haven't seen any sloe trees nowadays, let alone the berries, used to be what was practically an orchard, but they were all grubbed up to build houses but my own quince bush, which was in the garden when I arrived, looks like its done well.

[ForgeCorvus]

Talking of fruits on the road home a little under half a mile away there are sloes on the side of the road and they are more berry than leaf . If they weren't right by the side of the road I'd pick a load but always a bit wary when they areso close to all the road fumes...

Shouldn't be much of a problem after the death of Four Star, and Diesels burn so much cleaner then they used to....... But everyone draws the line where they're most comfortable, if its not right for you its not right.

[grenfell]

Yes you're probably right. The sloes are just approaching a set of lights and traffic can build up there so I probably am erring on the side of caution and anyway it's not really a problem as there are bushes elsewhere further from any road that are a si.ilar distance from me. It's just really noticeable driving past the abundance of those blueish black berries , the bushes really are loaded...