This Christmas the halls will have to be decked with extra holly as the favourite Christmas plant, the Poinsettia, is in short supply on the Island.

Damage to Aberfeldy Nursery's Somerset greenhouses from Hurricane Fabian, coupled with importation challenges, have resulted in a shortage of the popular holiday plant.

As a result the nursery is no longer taking orders for Poinsettias.

"There is only a certain time when these plants can be grown," Julie Greaves of Aberfeldy said.

"We've just been challenged all the way through this process and the hurricane had a big impact."

What plants were grown comprise a nice selection of white, red and pink flowers, she said, but are far too few in number to meet demand.

Ms Greaves said the nursery will start distributing the plants at the end of the month but will not be able to accommodate any more requests.

"We can't sell what we don't have," she said.

Ms Greaves said the cuttings for Poinsettias are shipped in from overseas but the plant must be grown on the Island due to the many agricultural regulations that have to be abided by.

"We can't just order these plants from the United States," she said. "We aren't able to bring in a finished plant."

However, Christmas Cacti have survived the challenges of the past few months almost unscathed, she said, as they were grown in a separate greenhouse that did not receive any damage.

The nursery has also grown many other plants which are red in colour to offer as a substitutes to the Poinsettia.

"People are looking for the red plants for the holiday season and we've done other things to compensate for the lack of Poinsettias in stock," Ms Greaves said.

The nursery apologises to its customers for any inconvenience.