Northeast Gardening: Behind the Red Sox curtain..., 1 by ViburnumValley

ViburnumValley wrote:
I don't know that they will do any better or any worse in shade than the shrubby winterberry hollies. Quality/quantity of fruiting depends solely on numbers of flowers available to be appropriately pollinated, and that usually increases with exposure to sunlight.

So......if your female plant puts out - the flowers, that is - and your male plant obliges likewise (and at the same time, mind you), and you have active pollinators like bees, flies, wasps to do the heavy lifting - then you should go forth and be fruitful.

Know that Ilex decidua overlaps in bloom time with Ilex opaca here in the Ohio River valley - not with Ilex verticillata, which blooms quite a bit later. I'll attach a handy comparison bloom time chart compiled by one of the giants of Holly-dom from southwest Indiana - the late Bob Simpson.