‘Tis the season … when Barbara sprinkles the house with holiday flowers and berries, some of them elf-sized, some immigrants, some natives, all merry.
Above, you see a green-leafed, red-bracted poinsettia branch of Mexican derivation. (The plant’s vibrantly-colored bracts are not flower petals; they’re specialized leaves.) Below, you’ll see New England winterberry holly in its leafless winter form with berries like Christmas tree ornaments strung by an elf that has imbibed too much good cheer:
There also is the chunky-size variety of winterberry:
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on December 15, 2025.)