Holly Tree
When I think of Holly, I think of Christmas and Red Berries. I know Christmas has passed for some, but in our house the trees and decorations remain in place to welcome in the New Year! As you know I have cats in the house so I don't use real materials when decorating but I would have been real upset if I could use real things such as red holly berries. Why you ask? Well, my two Holly Trees have yet to produce bright red berries in my Georgia Garden! 
I don't know if these trees are wild or were planted by the previous homeowners. They were here when we purchased the house 7 years ago. The trees look healthy and have bright green leaves so what could be the problem? Maybe, a male female thing? Maybe, not enough sun shine? They are at the edge of the woods. Maybe, not the correct soil type? Hum, does anyone know why my at least 8 year old HOLLY TREES are not giving me berries, In the Garden...
When I think of Holly, I think of Christmas and Red Berries. I know Christmas has passed for some, but in our house the trees and decorations remain in place to welcome in the New Year! As you know I have cats in the house so I don't use real materials when decorating but I would have been real upset if I could use real things such as red holly berries. Why you ask? Well, my two Holly Trees have yet to produce bright red berries in my Georgia Garden! 
I don't know if these trees are wild or were planted by the previous homeowners. They were here when we purchased the house 7 years ago. The trees look healthy and have bright green leaves so what could be the problem? Maybe, a male female thing? Maybe, not enough sun shine? They are at the edge of the woods. Maybe, not the correct soil type? Hum, does anyone know why my at least 8 year old HOLLY TREES are not giving me berries, In the Garden... 
Hi tina and thanks for visiting my blog. I think you are right that the holly berrying is a male/female thing. You need one of each for berries and perhaps you have two the same. don't know how much space you have but the surefire way to get berries would be to buy one male and one female, Golden King (oddly female) and Silver Queen (oddly male) are good varieties for us but we are probably a lot cooler and wetter than you are.
ReplyDeleteI'd guess you need a male or female addition. I'm not sure how you tell which is which, though, in order to purches one. A nursery could help.
ReplyDeleteSkeeter,
ReplyDeleteI'm no holly expert, but it does seem that you're missing one of the genders.
There is a wild holly in the edge of our woods. A few weeks ago, it was overloaded with red berries. Now, there's not a single berry. The birds, I assume, picked it clean.
Cameron
Hi Skeeter! Hope your holiday was fantastic! I am wondering if you have Ilex opaca. It's native to your part of the world and most definitely needs a male to produce those delicious to birds berries! If it's the native it doesn't mind the semi shade, it does like a moister soil then Georgia's had these past summers! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeletegail
Good Morning All,
ReplyDeleteSkeeter I wish I could help you out but I can't tell which is which. Mine that I brought back from Tn. never produced berries. I had dug it up wild so maybe that was the problem. Although it did make a beautiful tree.
Gotta go set out a rose bush that my brother brought me.
Have a marvelous day all.
Skeeter .. when we lived in British Columbia (west coast) there were loads of wonderful holly shrubs that had wonderful berries .. we moved here in Ontario .. I can't tell you how many we tried and YES .. with female and male together .. NO berries no matter what I did .. so out they went .. I can only take a couple of years frustration and then I QUIT a plant !
ReplyDeleteI know .. this doesn't help you out .. but I got more frustration out ? LOL
Hi, Skeeter--I can't identify your problem, but I'll check with some of my gardening friends when I get back into town. And if you're in VA anytime soon and want some, I'll bring you baby American hollies--we have them everywhere (but they grow slowly . . .)
ReplyDeleteHappy, happy holidays.
Like the others I agree it is probably the gender thing.
ReplyDeleteHi Skeeter,
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering about having a male and female. Mine are male and female and have done wonderfully even when the deer ate them down to knubs (no food that winter) they came back and are still great. My in-laws have 2 male and one female each about 10 ft apart from the other, they do good year to year.
Maybe a nursery can tell you how to tell them apart, and I would think one of the opposite would help. They sure are beautiful when they have berries.
Oh yes, British Columbia does have great holly and mistletoe. I had an aunt that lived there and would send us fresh every Christmas.
ReplyDeletenamed varieties have clue in the name: prince/princess. You just need the male (which is larger and doesn't produce berries) somewhere in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bellarmine.edu/faculty/drobinson/Holly2.asp
Hey all, I think it is a gender thing too Skeeter. I would FIRST identify exactly what type of holly I had. Once I knew that I would seek out an appropriate pollinator. If your holly is wild, it seems that it would bear berries since there are several of them in your yard and probably in the nearby woods. IF the previous homeowners planted then it is possible your hollies need a bit more sun to flower. Question?? Do they ever flower? The flower would be small and probably insignificant but it would help to know if it flowers. If it does then clearly it is a pollinator problem. Here is a link to figure out what kind of pollinators you need for the type of holly you have: http://www.walterreeves.com/landscaping/article.phtml?cat=13&id=344
ReplyDeleteAnd to ID the holly, it looks like an American holly (Ilex opaca) or perhaps some variety thereof. Research it further and maybe look it up in a good book (looking at not only the leaf but bark and growth habit too) or take a leaf with a branch to your extension agent. If it is American holly (pretty likely since it grows well in your location and the conditions, then the above website says the cultivar 'Jersey Knight' will do the pollination if there are not other hollies within a 1/4 mile. Check it out. Good luck!
Hi Skeeter, I hope you can find the correct gender to get those producing some pretty red berries. I have been fortunate that the previous owners planted a few of each. This year they are really full of red berries --I'm guessing it is a good year for them in this area. Have a great day everyone!
ReplyDeleteHolly berries would be SO beautiful. I hope you find a solution...
ReplyDeleteAmy
Hello everyone... We just returned from a 9 hour trip from the Saints parents in VA. We had a great Christmas but way too short of visit as always! Sigh… I hope everyone in blogland had a great holiday as well. Now we can get ready to Ring in the New Year!
ReplyDeleteI am guessing from all the comments, that I have a pollinator issue. I must get to work on identifying the gender. I was able to enjoy Mom B's holly tree while in VA and watched the birds and squirrels nibbling the red treats! We called to let them know we arrived home safely and they said they saw Cedar Waxwings on the berries after we left! Their first time seeing the Waxwings and they were thrilled to have the beautiful visitors into their holly tree for a snack.
It has been a long day and I need to give my furry girls lots of kisses because they were such good fur babies, then off to bed we all go....
I have no answer, I was curious as to the answer myself. I hope you can figure it out so that they'll produce berries for you. I miss holly berries at Christmas ~ my grandmother used to send us some in her Christmas box just to remind us of "home."
ReplyDeleteSkeeter, it looks like you've gotten some great advice already, which is good because I'm no help. I do hope you find an answer--having real holly berries for Christmas next year would be nice, wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteKathleen, what a sweet memory of your grandmother sending you holly berries at Christmas time! That is wonderful and will always hold a special spot in your heart!
ReplyDeleteRose, i would love to have real holly berries next year! I would like to put them on the little trees at the front door to welcome one into the festive home...
Have you ever thought that these two trees might be MALE trees; and if this be true then they will never ever have berries on them. Only the female of the holly tree can have berries, the male tree never has them. But a good way to tell is male holly trees are short and bushy, never more than ten feet tall, and of course NO BERRIES. The female holly tree is truly a tree, growing straight and tall ( I saw one this weekend in Kentucky that I calculated as SIXTY FEET TALL.) and of course loaded with BERRIES.
ReplyDelete