holly

when should I plant holly

Fall and spring are usually the two best times to plant things--since you missed out on fall already, I'd plant them in the spring. As long as they have a chance to get established before it gets too hot out they should be fine. Also, if you want berries, make sure you plant a male and a female plant.

i also have a question about holly, i just purchased some japanese holly "compacta" from homedepot and it says females have berries, but is this cultivar both female, and male,or do i need another cultivar? thanx

Did the tag say that yours was female? I don't know hollies well enough to know which cultivars are female and which are male, but either way you need one plant of each sex in order to get berries. I did do a quick Google image search and didn't find any of this cultivar with berries on it, which means either it's male, or nobody's posted pics of it with berries--not sure which one of those is more likely!. You might start a new thread to see if anyone knows the sex of this one and to get advice on what's a good cultivar of the opposite sex to go with yours.

Hi Redzone, dont recognise the holly from the name compacta, is there more to the name, compacta usually just means how the plant grows, such as a compact shrub rather than one that is open, Japanese Hollies are normally less prickly than the other ones, and the berries are blacker rather than red, however, hollies have become very popular again and people are growing so many different types now that they see the beauty from all the other types that there has been a big increase in the different types the growers are giving us, I would get back in touch with where you bought it from and ask them if it is a male or female, you definitely need both sexes to get berries from the female. maybe someone close by you will have the opposite sex and your will be pollinated by that, but to be on the safe side, ask the shop, then you will be more aware of what other sex you require to get berries in winter, you only need say one male to every female growing in the same area to get berries from the female shrubs/trees.
Your label should read something like. ILEX, !!!!!!!!! compacta, them maybe Japanese Holly. so try find out the full name and see if one of us can get back to you. good luck. WeeNel.

the tag didn't say much, i'm pretty sure they're male now because i found an article on the internet saying most dwarf hollies are males and also with no pics of berries on them, unless there's a cultivar of 3 foot females i'll be just happy with these guys

heres a link to the home depot site of this plant http://www.plant-guide.com/homedepotshowplant.asp?plantid=446

This message was edited Jan 1, 2008 9:50 PM

Japanese holly is the common name for Ilex crenata. There is a cultivar of I. crenata called 'Compacta', I just couldn't find any clear info on whether it was male or female (only did a quick search though).

Hi Pulsara, I am in about the same zone, temps as you here in Scotland, to be honest, here, if I have trees or shrubs to plant, I can generally go ahead and plant them even now, just look for the 7 day weather report and, IF there is no really, really, hard frost predicted, and the soil is not sticking to the spade or my boots, I go ahead and plant the shrubs and trees, they are safer in the soil in our temps than sitting in pots where they just might get a freeze at the roots because the pots dont offer the same protection, we would need a really long cold freeze for our soil to get frozen, you can always add a mulch around the new planting hole for added protection, I am on the west coast on the water, close to where you get the ferry over to your country, so you will be about the same zone, temp as myself. Hope this helps, by the way, Ecrane is correct in saying that autumn and spring are the best time for planting, as a rule, I would go with that, but as for hollies, they are as tough as old boots and thrive the real cold winters if protected by a mulch when young. Best wishes. WeeNel.

If you have the one called Crenata, them there is definitely a female plant as well as male, the female if pollinated by male, has small black berries in winter, has less spines in the leaves and the leaves are paler that the common Hollies, because if this, it is sometimes grown as a hedge over here because it is slower growing. good luck whatever you have, it is a lovely shrub/small tree and looks really nice in beside other evergreens for contrast. Good Luck. Weenel.

redzone911:

'Compacta' Japanese holly is a synonym for the correctly named/registered Ilex crenata 'Bennett's Compact'. Other synonyms include 'Bennett's Compacta' and 'Bennett's Compactum', along with plain old 'Compacta' as yours is labeled and sold by Home Depot. This plant is one of the Bennett Hybrid Group, selected in the late 1940s by E. L. Bennett, propagator for Greenbriar Farms.

It is MALE, thus will not set fruit. You can confirm the identity of your plant by observing the flowers while in bloom. Male plants will have flowers with stamens with pollen; female plants of Japanese holly will have flowers with pistils to receive this pollen and a fat round ovary right in the center. Male flowers will lack this obvious ovary.

I've gleaned some of this information from Hollies: the Genus Ilex by Fred C. Galle (Timber Press, 1997). You can look at additional info here:

http://www.hollysocam.org/publicas.htm
http://www.tnz.us/products.htm

The TNZ Nursery website lists the Japanese holly clones in a concise list with a nice description of each, in one place. The owner of this nursery is a personal friend. He loves hollies, especially Japanese hollies (you can tell by the extensive list), and was formerly the curator of the internationally renowned holly collection at Bernheim Arboretum.