Deck your garden with boughs of holly, a plant rich in symbolism and evergreen beauty

By JESSICA DAMIANO, Associated Press

No doubt you’ve seen your share of hollies this month — in wreaths and boughs or perhaps on holiday cards and catalog covers. But are they growing in your garden?

There are hundreds of holly species and hybrids hailing from China, Japan, South America, Europe and North Africa, and more than a dozen are native to the continental U.S.

Lore holds that ancient pagans fashioned the evergreen’s branches into wearable crowns and believed that...