As the days grow frigid and autumn ineluctably gives room to winter , the ornamental garden need n’t be dull or dull . Of the many fantabulous bush and tree that bid color and texture to the wintertime landscape , Ilex verticillatais guaranteed to ignite your imaging and brighten your heart . This deciduous member of the holly genus is better have it away as common winterberry holly . distinctly different from its evergreen relatives , winterberry holly cast off its summer foliage in late fall exhibit deal of densely tamp down cherry berry along mere stems . Whether expose as a exclusive specimen or in a mass planting , this bush practically shouts : LOOK AT ME ! ! And so we do – with pleasure .
verbal description
Winterberry holly is native to the entire eastern one-half of North America . It can be found growing from Nova Scotia to Florida in bogs , swamps , damp thickets , low areas , and along ponds and stream . In wet sites in the wilderness , it may form turgid thickets or colony from suckers . In dry ground , it stay a smashed shrub . In the ornamental landscape painting , this hollyprefers fair to moistsoil , but thrivesin a panoptic reach of soil types and conditions .
This slow - maturate , multi - stemmed shrub typically develops an upright to rounded wont and grows between 5 and 15 feet tall . The leaves are typically two to three inches foresighted , ovoid , toothed , and dark green . In the fall , the leaf turns yellow or , in some cases , maroon . The berries provide significant color and stake in the winter landscape painting .
Winterberry hollies are dioecious . In other Word , the shrub are either male or female . Both manful and distaff plants produce flowers , but onlyfertilized flowers on distaff winterberry bush produce berry . The flowers come out either one by one or in lowly clusters along the stems . Each bloom has a immature ovule in the pith . Flowers on male winterberries appear in big cluster with several large yellow anthers protruding from the center of each blossom .
Sources vary on the ratio of males to females needed for salutary pollination . In general , one male possum haw holly is adequate for pollinatingthree to sixor more female plants . To ensure pollination , a manly Ilex decidua holly must be implant within 40 to 50 feet of a female winterberry holly . Because some males are early blossom and others are late blooming , the appropriate male person must be in peak at the same time as the female . If properly pollinated , the distaff prime give way to a crop of bright crimson berries in recent summer to fall . The Berry unremarkably run throughout the winter ( hence the common name ) and often into early spring .
U.S.A. FOR WINTERBERRY HOLLY IN THE LANDSCAPE
WINTERBERRY HOLLY CULTIVARS
Although winterberry holly is an attractive shrub , the species is infrequently sold commercially because many excellent cultivar produce larger , more abundant yield . A few examples of commercially grown female cultivar and suggest male pollinators include :
CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF WINTERBERRY HOLLIES
PROBLEMS
possum haw have no serious worm or disease problem other than occasional leaf place and soft powdery mould on the foliage . Neither condition poses any significant job .
cervid may on occasion range winterberry but seldom severely damage them . Of the dozen or so Ilex decidua plant in my landscape painting south of Charlottesville , Ihave not observed any wrong from deer browsing . However , I have observed damage to two of the shrubs due to virile deer rubbing their antlers on the branches to slough the “ velvet . ” Fortunately , the shrubs recovered in one growing time of year .
SUMMARY
No matter which cultivar you select , Ilex decidua holly is a glorious shrub Charles Frederick Worth include in your winter landscape . substantially yet , choose several of them if you have room . This tough but beautiful , sluttish - to - grow shrub light up the wintertime landscape painting with its festive and colourful berry display . Moreover , the birds will prize the berries over the winter months .
SOURCES
Arbor Day Foundation web site ( http://www.arborday.org ) .
Piedmont Virginia Native Plant Database ( http://www.albemarle.org/NativePlants/list.asp )
Dirr , Michael , A.,Dirr ’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs(1997 )
Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station , Landscape Plants denounce by Deer Tolerance , https://njaes.rutgers.edu / deerresistance/
Mellichamp , Larry , Native Plants of the Southeast(2014 )
State Arboretum of Virginia Website , Deer “ insubordinate ” Plant List , ( http://www.virginia.edu/blandy )
The United States National Arboretum website ( http://www.usna.usda.gov/
United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Website : ( http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/ )
Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication 450 - 236,Problem - Free Shrubs for Virginia Landscapes , http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/450/450 - 236/450 - 236.html
Virginia Cooperative Extension Publication 2901 - 1077 , Winterberry ( Ilex verticillata),https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/2901/2901 - 1077/2901 - 1077_pdf.pdf
