Holly & Butch Get a Haircut

I learned something new the other day thanks to my sis. She informed me that a holly bush doesn't produce berries unless there is both a male and female bush. Something about cross-pollination. Interesting and weird.

The hubs and I have 2 large holly bushes (that came with the house) on either side of the front stoop. And yes, they both get a lot of berries. I nicknamed one Holly and the other one Butch (get it, holly bush....Holly & Butch. I crack myself up!) Anyway, they both have grown significantly in the (almost) 2 years we have lived in the 'burbs - despite the hubs trimming them on occasion. Check 'em out...

As you can see they both overwhelm the stoop and it was time for a haircut. So the hubs let me tackle them with our hedge trimmer - which I have never touched before in my life. How the heck do you use one of those things anyway? Well I figured it out eventually. 1 hour later and with a little help from my sis, they got a well deserved haircut.

I would have liked to have trimmed them down even more but then we would have 2 bushes with no leaves - a.k.a. Holly & Butch would be bald. And I wasn't having any of that.

They are a little sparse in spots but trust they will fill in sooner than later. And these photos don't do the trim job any justice. The stoop feels far lest jungle-like now...I swear. And yes, my life is reduced to blogging about trimming holly bushes. Yikes!