This week: Winterberry Holly Struts Its Stuff + Announcement!
Hello,
Read (or scroll) to the end of this week’s email for some Blooms to Bees news! Now, on with the show.
The best part about snow on the ground is having Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) in your landscape. Like its relatives, American Holly and Inkberry Holly, it is native to the Eastern United States, but unlike those hollies, it is not an evergreen. Instead, it sheds its leaves in the fall to reveal stunning scarlet berries.
These berries persist through the winter. Birds like robins and bluebirds eat the berries—but not immediately. The berries only become appealing to birds after they’ve eaten everything else available. Like American Holly, this coincides with rumors that birds prefer certain berries to be finely aged through fermentation. Luckily for humans, these stunning berries last well into the snowy season, making a bold statement in an otherwise dull landscape.
Design Tips
Which brings us to ways to use Winterberry Holly. They look fabulous planted en masse. The berries are small, so volume equals impact. However, their spring flower is insignificant, and the foliage doesn’t bring much to the party until it turns golden in the fall, so use them as a backdrop for a perennial border or consider a mixed hedge. Cluster a few Winterberry Hollies together and flank them with evergreens or more impactful flowering bushes like Ninebark or Oakleaf Hydrangea.
Shrub Shopping (And Reproduction?)
Winterberry Holly is often found in nurseries as cultivars, so it’s possible to shop for a preferred shrub size and berry color—yellow, orange, or classic red. Cultivars usually grow 4 to 5 feet tall and wide. Like other hollies, Winterberry Holly is dioecious. This means that male flowers are on different plants than female flowers. So, if you want berry production (which is the point of this plant), you need a compatible male holly planted near the female holly. One male plant will fertilize 3-5 female hollies. Check the plant’s tag to figure out which male holly is required. For example, the female cultivar Winter Red needs the male cultivar Southern Gentleman, and Berry Poppins goes with Mr. Poppins.
Because male hollies aren’t as attractive or large as the berry-producing females, they also sell Winterberry Hollies that are both male and female. Nurseries will graft male branches onto a compatible female holly. That way, you can plant just one Winterberry Holly and be guaranteed berries, or if you’re planting a hedge, you’ll have a more consistent look.
And now, for some shameless Blooms to Bees promotion.
Drumroll, Please: Announcing Blooms to Bees Products!
Careful readers may have noticed I’ve had a booth at a few local markets lately. What have I been selling? I’ve created a calendar and a few gardening journals and guides to help get the word out about Blooms to Bees while also exploring concepts to make this business a little less seasonal and a bit more scalable. I’ve also been able to combine some of my favorite things: writing, drawing, and book-making. As part of this trial run, my products will be sold online via the Buy Me a Coffee site. Check it out—maybe you’ll find a great gift for yourself or someone else!
Have a great week,
Julie