Hollies
Do you want colour in your garden over winter?
Why not try Holly in it's many forms.
I can almost hear you say "but they have prickles". True as this may be for some forms there is a good range of clones that have minimal prickles, especially when older, or none at all.
Hardy as HOLLY is it responds very well to shelter and shade if speed of growth is required. However in the open they will grow more slowly and the female forms will fruit more prolifically. In some of our very old gardens one occasionally comes across very old specimen plants of HOLLY. Should these be too large and out of balance with the remainder of the garden HOLLY may be dramatically trimmed or pruned back and after one growing season it will have refurbished it's foliage and look respectable once again. Not many shrubs have this strong power of regeneration. To put this to good use in a garden HOLLY makes an ideal hedge and if the prickly form is used it becomes impenetrable by man or beast. In the case of our large hedge which after half a century we only trim every 10 years quite low maintenance by any standard.
HOLLY does require good drainage so never plant in really wet sites if in doubt plant on a low mound or if a hedge is contemplated plough two sets of furrows together to form the mound to plant on.
When it comes to ornamentation the variety is nothing short of amazing. In autumn/winter the female forms have good crops of fruit. The traditional colour is red but may be yellow though to deep red, or any shade in between.
The fruit fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, is attractive to birds. I must confess I enjoy seeing the fat native pigeons devouring the fruit in our hedge over many months of winter.
The foliage is always clean and ornamental no matter what time of the year. However it is during winter when it is most appreciated. Some have bright gold or cream variegated foliage and when this is contrasted with dark colours it really lights up the garden. In contrast to Conifers, HOLLY holds it's bright colours in the shade while most conifers are green or blue under these conditions.
HOLLY lends itself admirably to floral artists both with it's durable long lasting foliage and berries. In the northern hemisphere this is often associated with Christmas arrangements. Here in New Zealand it is often possible to find the odd berry at Christmas time, however the birds have usually devoured the lot by then.
The fine leaved ILEX CRENATA may be used for low formal hedges such as those frequently provided by Box, thus avoiding the objectionable small of BUXUS.
Some of my favourite English HOLLY plants include ILEX J C VAN TOL. This has glossy plain deep green leaves without any spines on them. Being an hermaphrodite form it does not require a male companion to produce the abundant crops of sealing wax red fruit in mid winter.
ILEX AQUIFOLIUM HANDSWORTH NEW SILVER is a nice female form of English HOLLY with typical foliage edged silver to white.
ILEX AQUIFOLIUM ANGUSTIFOLIA. This male form has narrow and finer foliage than usual and the small shrub is neat and upright making this very attractive for hedging and Bonsai.
Hybrid Hollies
ILEX ALTACLARANENSIS LAWSONIANA has proved very popular over the years because of its bright gold centred leaves and it's deep red fruit that ripens quite late, being hermaphrodite is another advantage of this clone. This HOLLY has smooth edged leaves so no prickles to contend with either.