{"id":8201,"date":"2015-12-22T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=8201"},"modified":"2015-10-20T17:10:01","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T21:10:01","slug":"american-holly-for-year-round-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2015\/12\/22\/american-holly-for-year-round-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"American Holly For Year-round Interest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Century<\/a>

Century old Ilex opaca at Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC<\/p><\/div>\n

American Holly (Ilex opaca<\/em>) is a pyramidal evergreen tree that deserves to be planted more for multiple reasons. It is native to the eastern and central U. S. and is easily identified by its spiny green leaves (USDA hardiness zones 5 to 9).<\/p>\n

It grows slowly to 15 to 35 feet, sometimes taller.\u00a0\u00a0The leathery, deep green leaves (2-4 inches long) are spiny-tipped along\u00a0the leaf margins. Hollies are dioecious, e.g. individual plants are sexed either male or female.<\/p>\n

Greenish-white flowers appear in May-June. Bright red or golden yellow \u00bc – \u00bd inches diameter drupe fruits (\u201cberries\u201d) ripen on female trees in fall and persist on the tree through winter.\u00a0For good fruit set male and female hollies needed to be planted within \u00bd mile apart.<\/p>\n

American holly grows in any average soil, but fails in poorly drained or\u00a0 soils that periodically flood. In northern zone holly\u00a0grows in full day sun and prefers partial afternoon shade in southern region (7b -9). In early spring feed a slow-release fertilizer specifically labelled for acidic loving plants.<\/p>\n

Holly foliage and berries are used for winter holiday wreaths and other decorations. The tree provides shelter for birds from harsh weather and predators; holly berries are a steady food source all winter long. Spiny leaves contain toxic sap and are an adequate deterrent against deer.<\/p>\n

American hollies are susceptible to leaf drop, leaf scorch and chlorosis (leaf yellowing in high pH soils). When properly sited, hollies have few disease and insect problems. Otherwise, the list of potential problems grows long.<\/p>\n

Utilize as a single tree specimen or group several for foundation planting and for hedging. Foliage and fruits are superior winter features.<\/p>\n

Over 100 cultivars of American hollies are identified and cataloged. Five exceptional cultivars are:<\/p>\n

\u2018Dan Fenton\u2019<\/strong>– broad pyramidal form to 25 feet high; dark green leaves and shiny red berries.<\/p>\n

\u2018Jersey Princess\u2019<\/strong>– female pyramidal form with glossy dark green leaves, and bright red berries released from Rutgers University.<\/p>\n

\u2018Jersey Knight\u2019<\/strong>– male pollinator for \u2018Jersey Princess\u2019 with dark green leaves (another Rutgers introduction).<\/p>\n

\u2018Satyr Hill\u2019<\/strong>– vigorous grower, upright pyramidal habit, olive green foliage, and bright red berries.<\/p>\n

\u2018Xanthocarpa\u2019<\/strong>– pyramidal form and yellow-orange berry fruits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Holly (Ilex opaca) is a pyramidal evergreen tree that deserves to be planted more for multiple reasons. It is native to the eastern and central U. S. and is easily identified by its spiny green leaves (USDA hardiness zones 5 to 9). It grows slowly to 15 to 35 feet, sometimes taller.\u00a0\u00a0The leathery, deep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,747,778,806,800,665,649,774,686,1268,742,627,791,843,975,1060,1059,777,1210,630,705,646,7,113,819,1222,655,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8201"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8206,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8201\/revisions\/8206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}