Holly berries

yknaa

I read in the Examiner a few months ago that holly trees were full of berries this year and they seemed to appear early on. I wonder if that is the experience all over the country? I have two trees and had zero berries. Also I didn't see a whole lot anywhere else when out walking etc. It would be interesting to hear more. Perhaps the bountiful trees were just confined to Munster! ;-)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Hollies are dioecious, meaning they need male and female plants in order to produce seeds/berries. Only female holly bushes will have berries.

looksee

I had loads of berries, more than usual (which isn't saying a great deal, tbh) but Ophelia saw them all gone. Took a lot of leaves too, the holly is looking a bit bare in places, but seems healthy enough otherwise.

yknaa

Moshe Early Stew wrote: »

Hollies are dioecious, meaning they need male and female plants in order to produce seeds/berries. Only female holly bushes will have berries.

Thanks - I have one of each in the vain hope of getting berries ;-)

beer enigma

Moshe Early Stew wrote: »

Hollies are dioecious, meaning they need male and female plants in order to produce seeds/berries. Only female holly bushes will have berries.

I have a large female holly in my garden that consistently produced a mass of berries year on year until Christmas 2016 when it suddenly just stopped. It wasn't until my neighbour dropped in this Christmas and told me that he used to have a large holly in his garden too, but as it never produced berries, he dug it up.....in 2016..... Bang went the male :rolleyes:

Day Lewin

Another thing to bear in mind is that the female needs to be mature in order to bear berries.
I'm not sure what the age of adolescence is in a holly, but they are wind-pollinated. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, greenish-white little things. And I have seen flowers (and berries) on my holly bush at many seasons.
A large crop of berries is a sign of good rain the year before last. So, that's not a lot of help, really. :-)

I love hollies, a great plant to have in any garden.

PermaC

Holly berries that have been used in Christmas decoration can sprout into baby trees. One year a tree surgeon left me a load of mulch. I left the mulch sitting in a heap over the winter. In spring I had loads of little holly trees sprouting out of it. It seems the berries need the benefit of frost in order to be able to sprout.
This year I have made sure to throw my "used" holly berries onto my compost heap. We'll see if I get any new plants later on.