Somehow, a couple large holly splits I scrounged this year ended up next to the fire. I didn’t think it would be dry enough to burn yet, but I put it next to the stove to try and “kiln” dry it while my shoulder season wood burns. It filled the house with the most wonderful smell. It is a buttery smell with a little bit of mint. It is a very unique smell and beats the pants off of most of those scented candles or air fresheners. I recommend it for anyone with some holly on hand.
I have tons of huge american holly trees... not holly bushes, but true trees on both of my farms. Some are 50-60’ tall with 12-15” bases..... its amazing wood to burn and seasons like maple.
Yeah, have no idea what a "holly bush" is, they're trees here. AT least the ones that grow in the forest are.
I have a turner I’m talking to recently that told me that our holly trees here in America are about 200 years old but England has some 500 years old. These rounds are LARGE what I have. I have no real clue how old these trees were but you may be right that they are the bush and not the tree itself.
I dunno about that... they grow extremely rapidly around here. Ive cut them down, the stump stays alive and by the next year the new growth is 5’ tall.
The trees probably do. I should correct myself and say that my dads got bushes but they are now passes as trees. They are likely over 40 years old but their trunks aren’t much wider than my arm around. Mostly just growing from the top and they get pruned around yearly. But for how long they’ve been growing they aren’t huge at all. Maybe because where they are growing they don’t have lots of nutrition or just limited in that regard?
A month ago on a roadside scrounge, an old lady whos house i was scrounging in front of came out and asked if i would cut the small holly "tree" next to where i was cutting. I talked her out of it as it was a nice "shrub" and the stem was the size of my arm as well. It had the prickly leaves so i knew what it was. Never scrounged or cut any and was aware of the btu factor, not that a few skinnies meant much.
This will be my first batch from a burning POV. I don’t think this is the tree holly but bush. That being said this may not be a slower grower but still worthy of firewood.
