winterberry holly

Winterberry Gender Reveal

"Is my winterberry a male or female?" "I thought I bought a female and a male but I don't have any berries." 

Comments and questions like the ones above usually come during the fall or winter when the bright red berries begin to show up on Ilex verticillata, winterberry. But at that point in the season it is too late to tell. If you purchase a female but don't have a male (or the right male) and end up with no berries, you may think that you bought a male and go out and buy another female. 

Winterberry is dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female plants...

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Authors
Paul Snyder

Shrub of the Week: Winterberry Holly

{Text and photos for this bygl-alert are provided by Paul Snyder, horticulturist for OSU’s Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, with a little help from Jim Chatfield}. Deck the halls with boughs of holly, winterberry (Ilex verticillata) that is. While this member of the genus Ilex is not what Thomas Oliphant had in mind when he transliterated the lyrics of this ancient welsh carol into English, it is what we think of at Secrest. Ilex verticillata is perhaps the most visually stunning member of the genus Ilex. Ilex, which comes from the...
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Authors
Jim Chatfield