Experienced gardeners know that the change of seasons brings on new and exciting finds. Gardening is much more than the unfolding yellow flowers of forsythia in the spring and the intense red color of burning bush in the fall. Winter is equally as exciting showing us color and texture that we have been waiting for all year. The silence of a white, snowy day helps outline and showcase many of our existing plant materials. Winter gives us a chance to look at the skeletal patterns of our deciduous friends as well as take note of some prominent features associated with their evergreen counterparts. One particular feature that is shared with some deciduous and evergreen plant material is the explosion of colorful fruit that starts in the fall and holds throughout the winter months.
Ilex, the botanical name for holly, is jam-packed with candidates offering buckets of fruit in the winter. Hollies can be either evergreen or deciduous and adapt well to a number of site locations. Ilex verticillata, Winterberry holly, is a deciduous type that has female cultivars that just grab our attention and won’t let go. Valued for its superior fruit production, Ilex x ‘Sparkleberry’ is a multi-stemmed holly with exceptional bright red berries lasting through the winter months. Tolerant to wet sites and clay soils, it prefers to be in full sun to part shade. Commonly, Winterberry attains heights of five to ten feet in residential landscapes. Truly a stunning shrub when mass planted. Other candidates to be on the look out for are ‘Afterglow’, ‘Harvest Red’, ‘Winter Red’, and ‘Winter Gold’. With fruit ripening in shades from orange to bright red it’s hard to pick just one. Remember though, you will need a male pollinator to get these beautiful berries. Consider ‘Jim Dandy’ to be that pollinator as it has good deep green leaves throughout the spring and summer. Ilex verticillata is also not prone to many serious diseases.
Sometimes confusing are the evergreen types of hollies. Ilex aquifolium (English Holly), Ilex cornuta (Chinese Holly), Ilex crenata (Japanese Holly), Ilex glabra (Inkberry Holly), Ilex opaca (American Holly) and the list goes on. Equally challenging to understand and keep track of are all the crosses between holly types. So why bother! Just remember that all of the previously mentioned have cultivars that will bear heavy fruit for you in the colder months. Ilex x Nellie Stevens is not an American Holly! Often, customers mistakenly ask for this as an American holly. While it is an excellent producer of red fruit and quick growing, it is in fact a hybrid between Chinese and English hollies. Another excellent evergreen type is Ilex opaca ‘Jersey Princess’. A true American type, ‘Jersey Princess’ is perhaps one of the finest fruiting cultivars out there. I may be slightly prejudiced as it is a
Arguably one of the finest smaller holly types on the market is Ilex x meservae ‘Berri- Magic’. The Meservae hybrids are a gift given to gardeners by Mrs. F. Leighton Meserve of
Hollies come in many flavors, small to large, deciduous to evergreen. Remember that most need a male pollinator to get those beautiful red, orange and yellow fruits. Forgiving of many adverse conditions, hollies have stood the test of time. Don’t forget to spray your evergreen types with an anti-desiccant for the winter.
