Winterberry shrubs: males and females

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Sofonisba Questa, NM(Zone 5b) Jul 22, 2007

Hello all! I just bought my first winterberry today. It's a Ilex verticillata 'Houx'. I'd like a mate for it. I dunno if mine is male or female and I dunno which cultivar I should buy to mate with it. Does anyone have some suggestions?

Thanks,
Harper

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jul 22, 2007

"Houx' is French for Holly. Maybe the tag is for French speakers in Canada? I can't find any Ilex cv called 'Houx'

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Sofonisba Questa, NM(Zone 5b) Jul 24, 2007

Bummer! It was grown in Canada. That's probably why. Hmmm... any suggestions what I do now?

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jul 25, 2007

Any other words on the tag? What does it say? Any PP#? Some of the cultivar names don't sound meaningful at first : 'Oosterwijk', 'Tiasquam', etc. Maybe yours is not a cultivar or named selection? Seems unlikely though.

You probably thought of this, but I guess there aren't any berries on your shrub. It might be worth looking again, maybe a few rolling around in the top of the pot? I don't grow these, but I would guess they would have this year's fruit forming by now...


Try looking in PlantFiles too, maybe something will ring a bell ?

http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=ilex&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=verticillata&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

Post #3777697
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Sofonisba Questa, NM(Zone 5b) Jul 26, 2007

There are some berries on the shrub. How will they help? Shall I take a photo and request an ID?

The tag Just says 'Winterberry'. It's grown by Willowbrook Nurseries in Canada. Maybe I'll try contacting them.

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bettydee La Grange, TX(Zone 8b) Jul 26, 2007

Berries on your shrub indicate that it is a female. You'll need to look for a male that produces pollen at about the same time as the female flowers. remember seeing a list of compatible varieties in a gardening magazine. I'll see if I can find it.

Post #3782798
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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jul 26, 2007

In your first post you said you don't know if it's male or female... now we know it's female. So look for male cultivars like 'Jim Dandy', 'Southern Gentleman', 'Johnny Come Lately', etc.
I don't know if there's an issue with bloom times for the different cultivars or not.

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bettydee La Grange, TX(Zone 8b) Jul 26, 2007

I found out as suspected that 'houx' means holly in French and is not the name of a cultivar. Quebec has to have everything indicated in both English and French. If you can't contact the grower, wait until your holly (houx) blooms and get a maie that produces pollen at the same time. I found two sites that may help.

http://hcs.osu.edu/pocketgardener/source/description/il_llata.html
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/cultivars/ilex_verticillata-table.html


Post #3782910
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Sofonisba Questa, NM(Zone 5b) Jul 28, 2007

Thank you bettydee! What a great help you are.

At the very least, I have discovered from your links that I have a female because it has berries.

This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 3:04 PM

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