Ilex Winterberry

I am looking for nursery sources that sell Ilex Winterberry plants, both female and male.

Thanks,

GG

Try Rarefind Nursery in Jackson NJ. They have a large selection of male and female Ilex verticillata listed. I've purchased through mail order and in person from this nursery and have been very happy with the plants and service. ( If you can wait until August they have a big dog days sale but your choices will be limited.) Although I haven't purchased anything from them yet Fairweather Gardens, also in NJ, looks good and has a good reputation.

GG:

Take a look in PlantFiles as a starter:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/73589/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/80059/

These entries list several potential sources in addition to the ones noted above by sempervirens. By checking under other clonal selections of winterberry, you may find even more vendors.

These are excellent plants worth the search. Let us know when you find what you want.

Musser Forests Inc. right there in Indiana, PA sells them. Not huge, but you probably can't beat the price.

http://www.musserforests.com/prod.asp?p=WIH

Will follow up on both of these tips. I want to plant a number of Winterberry along a small stream that borders my property. I am continuing work on making my property bird, critter friendly. Sooooooooooo rewarding when I see who is visiting my feeders!

I will let you know what I find.

Thanks folks,

GG

I know a while back I had found a place that had "Dwarf Winterberry".

Now I can't seem to find it.

Can someone help?

Thanks,Pelle

pelletory, Red Sprite( female) is listed as compact 2' - 3'. Jim Dandy (3' - 4') is the male. (Spring Valley Roses) edited to say: They are both listed larger elsewhere - Sprite 3' X 4', Jim Dandy 8' X 8' ! (Rarefind Nursery)
These are the shrubs I am thinking of purchasing. Anyone have 1st hand knowledge of these plants and if they actually do attract birds for the berries for you?

This message was edited Jan 22, 2008 7:05 AM

This message was edited Jan 22, 2008 8:51 AM

Birds absolutely will eat the fruit of winterberries, but they also prefer many other types of fruit that soften up or are tastier earlier in the winter months. This is why winterberries are such great plants for the garden and wildlands -- they please the human eye as well as feed wildlife for an extended period of winter.

This performance will always depend on the types and volumes of birds that you have around, and the availability of other forms of forage. Less variety of fruit may very well mean that your winterberries are stripped of fruit earlier in the winter (as mine were here, because of the 2007 Easter freeze destruction of many other plants' ability to flower/fruit last year). Heavy bird pressure with little else to choose from, or a particular species of bird that just MUST have the winterberries -- well, you get the picture.

To me, winterberry fills a great slot in the landscape because it tolerates much wetter sites than many other shrubs commonly used. Next to a faucet or a downspout where it is wetter more than it is drier (and if you have acidic soils -- no sweat!), well, you couldn't make a winterberry any happier.

I am growing about eight clones of the winterberry group here in central KY on heavier circumneutral clay loams. The wettest sites do best, but these tough plants soldier on through droughts like last year's with a minimum of support.

Everyone should give them a try, especially northeastern gardeners where many of the named selections hail from.

Here's an image of how much fruit can fit on happy plants. These are 'Winter Red' winterberry en masse at a spot just below where two pipes from a roof downspout system run off.

Bluestone Perennials has Ilex verticillata 'Berry Nice' for $11.95. Keep in mind that Bluestone's plants are generally very small. Farmers Seed and Nursery is listing 'Winter Berry' at $7.95 or cheaper. No idea of the quality, but if you want many plants this might be an option. I have noted several varieties of Ilex in many of what I term the common, related mail-order nurseries (can't think of the names right now, but you know the ones--their catalogs are almost identical because they are associated, and they mainly deal in fairly common plants at discount prices). Also, Niche Gardens usually carries several varieties and their plants are quite nice--I have two from there.

Hope this helps--I'm still waiting for my 'SparkleBerry's to grow big enough to fruit--that picture from ViburnumValley is beautiful!

That picture is wonderful!

I placed an order with Musser Farms yesterday. They raise their plants from seeds and can not designate male/female, so they recommend purchasing at least five plants! I am not sure what assurance that is, but will give it a try. The prices are reasonable, but the plants are small.

I have been looking at Red Sprite and Jim Dandy. I want to order a few more plants to be sure I have female/male plants. I have a damp, area, creekside, that should support Ilex plants very well.

Winterberry will add to my choke cherry, serviceberry, bayberry, elderberry, and mulberry.

I have to groundhog proof everything I plant by making chicken wire cages for the plants.

Thanks all for the assistance.

GG

I have a downspout that drains fairly close --about 2 feet away from the house. How close to the house can you plant this winterberry? How is the root growth?
With our drought last year, I don't know if I can support this plant anywhere else....

Julie,

This website references Red Sprite as a very favorable foundation planting.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/YGLNews/YGLN-Aug0105.html

I have a number of regular hollies planted near my house, and am thinking about adding some compact Ilex to these plantings.

GG

Has anyone ever bought shrubs from Niche Gardens?

They have Red Sprite too.

I have pelletory. I wouldn't buy from them again. Way too expensive and almost all the plants died. I bought them early spring, so it wasn't too early for me to plant. They didn't make it half way thru the summer with regular rain and/or watering.

GG, there's 2 other shrubs that come to mind that are really hard to buy already sexed. Lindera benzoin and Myrica pensylvanica. I'm sure there's more, but those come to mind.

I could have sworn Digging Dog Nursery had them last year but now their not listed at all. :-(

I found some at Lazy S Farms Nursery. I bought other plants from them last year and had very good results with them.

GG

My plants from Niche have done well, but keep in mind I don't mail order mine--I pick them up. Yes, they are more expensive. I think you could do just as well elsewhere, price-wise, as it seems like all the Ilex cultivars are gaining in popularity.

Beautiful photo of "Winter Red"" VV. Also thanks for the bird attraction information. Do you, or anyone, have a photo of what the winterberry looks like in leaf in a garden setting? I'm thinking of placing the Red Sprite in the downspout area near Switch Grass and would like to see if they visually fit. It would look nice in berry with the golden grass and charcoal stems and leaves of the winter Baptisia I'm sure. Now all I'll have to do is move the Itea forward to make space and find room close by for a few more and the large Jim Dandy. It looks like I'll have a lot of moving around to do this spring and I'm blaming all on my fellow DGers.

edited to ask how close does the male need to be to the female winterberry ?

This message was edited Jan 25, 2008 7:04 AM

Planted winterberry as soon as I bought my new home. Turkeys had evey berry since. Makes me realize why the most common plantings are old cars and washing machines. Only things the darned (note the DG freindly adjective) wildlife won't mess with here, 'magine......

Probably get the most wild life just by planting a vegetable garden :(

Nonetheless, I look forward to the day when I.v. 'Stop Sign' has its time in the sun.

Look who's come out of hibernation! Welcome back on board.

Do you have 'Stop Sign' or 'Stoplight'? If the former, please send me cuttings for rooting since I don't have or know that one.

Oops, it's 'Stoplight', not 'Stop Sign'. Thanks for the bonk in the head.

I'd have been happy to send you cuttings otherwise.

In any case, I'm busy w/ a new job and haven't been up to my old DG self. There's been a lot to learn about greenhouse production in this new job. Thanks for the welcome!