Plant of the Week – Winterberry Holly

With the winter season upon us with occasional winter storm, there does not appear to be much color in the landscape to draw our attention to. We are left with the textural shapes of our evergreens and deciduous trees and shrubs. Or are we? With proper planning in our landscape design we can have that winter color available, and winterberry holly, as the name implies, has beautiful red berries throughout the winter. Native to wet areas from Southern Florida to Nova Scotia and west to Wisconsin, winterberry hollies were introduced to the plant community in 1736.

Averaging in height from 6-10? and hardy from zones 3-9, winterberry hollies are a rounded, deciduous shrub that have many fine, twisted branches, which is an added architectural feature that when combined with the red berries makes this plant such a focal point in the dead of winter. The berries are bright red up to 1?2? across, often in pairs, ripening in late August and continuing into January. The holly can be transplanted from either balled-and-burlapped or as a container, and are very adaptable to wet conditions in light or heavy soils, and have been seen growing in fresh water ponds with the entire root system submerged. It prefers moist, acid, organic soils and grows in partial shade to full sun, but fruits better in full sun. Important to note, winterberry hollies do need a male and female for fruit set.

Having no serious disease and insect problems, this plant can be used with minimal care in your garden, in a wet location, and paints a beautiful portrait when planted in mass as a shrub border. Using a previous plant of the week, Dusty Zenobia (a semi-evergreen), we can truly turn a low-lying, wet spot in the garden into a year round point of interest. If there is a lake or pond in landscape, then the reflection of the red berries in the water truly adds depth to the whole picture. For further questions, please call Patrick Haller at Quality Trees at 931-261-5885.