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Holly- Brighten Your Holiday Landscape with Holly

One of the plants long associated with winter holidays is holly. Whether in it's evergreen forms with thick, glossy green leaves or in it's deciduous form with branches outlined in glowing red berries, hollies are wonderful winter accent plants. No matter where you live you can probably grow some form of holly.

There are over 600 species of holly, from many parts of the world. Several species have been widely grown in gardens for hundreds of years. You may think of holly as having thick, dark green, glossy leaves that remain green all winter. Others of you may know a holly that you call Possumhaw or Winterberry, which lose their leaves in the winter to display branches lined with beautiful berries all winter.

Hollies may be widely divided into groups, English Hollies, Ilex aquifolium, American Hollies Ilex opaca, Blue Holly, Ilex meservae, Chinese Holly, Ilex cornuta, Japanese Holly, Ilex crenata, PossumHaw, Ilex decidua and Winterberry Holly, Ilex verticillata.

There are other species grown for ornamental use and each of the above species has numerous named varieties. Hollies species are also crossed to provide some ornamental hybrids.

Hollies vary in size from small shrubs to large trees. The shape of the leaves also varies. Many evergreen species have toothed leaves, with a spine at the end of each tooth. Some however, have smooth, nearly oval leaves. Most evergreen Holly leaves are thick and glossy green. There are some variegated varieties. Hollies that drop their leaves in winter generally have long, oval leaves with smooth margins.

All hollies have one interesting feature. Male and female flowers are born on separate plants. To get those beautiful berries you will need at least one male plant for every 10 or so females. Only female plants have berries. Pay attention to catalog descriptions or label information, which tells you what type of male plant you need for each female you buy. Blue hollies are needed to pollinate Blue Hollies and Possumhaws are needed to pollinate Possumhaws and so on. Even within a group some plants will be better mates for each other.

The holly flowers are small and whitish. They have a sweet scent that attracts bees and other insects to do the pollinating. You can tell male flowers if you look inside the flower and see yellow pollen. Female flowers already have a round, green swelling at the base of the pistil that becomes the berry. Holly plants may not flower for several years after

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