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Phillyrea latifolia

January

It has been a stalwart of English gardens at least since Elizabethan times, but as far as I know has never achieved a ‘common’ name. Phillyrea is what the ancient Greeks called it, and we follow them.

There are two phillyreas, latifolia and angustifolia, but only latifolia makes a proper tree. You could guess from its stance, short and spreading with half a dozen stems, and its  narrow (despite its name) leaves that it is related to the olive. The leaves are polished and the darkest green. It flowers very modestly in winter and has no fruit that I have ever seen.

Why do I love it? Its dark dome, building almost imperceptibly over many years, is a serious presence in the garden; a landmark to relate to. In the 17th century it was widely used for topiary and hedges, until I believe the terrible winters of the end of the century damaged it (and the Italian cypress, also then commonly used) beyond repair.

A curious fact I can’t account for: years ago when the tree was half its present size a woodpecker started methodically ring-barking each stem as though determined to kill it. Is the sap sweet-tasting? I managed to put him off by making a cat’s cradle of string between the branches. He never came back, but what was he trying to do?

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