Ilex Species, English Holly, European Holly

This has naturalized widely on the west coast from British Columbia to southern California. It's harmless further east, but CAL-IPC has p...Read Moreut this on the list of plants that invade and damage natural habitat in California.

Seed-grown trees are very spiny when young, growing less spiny with maturity.

This is less hardy than our native Ilex opaca. Dirr gives its useful range in eastern N. America as Z6b to Z7b. Good south into Z10 on the west coast, where summers are cooler.

I have a beautiful bronze leaf English holly, but she has never berried since the season I bought her, when she came pre fertilized. 2 y...Read Moreears ago, I bought a handsome Gold Coast ilex to be her mate. It flowered this year and now has small green berries where the flowers were. Has my Gold Coast become trans-gender or is this a post-flower seed of some sort. Very sad in VA.

Holly shrubs are dioecious, meaning that they require at least one separate male plant to be in close proximity to the female plants othe...Read Morerwise pollination will not occur. Both female and male plants produce small clusters of creamy, white flowers which are similar in appearance, but the males have more prominent stamens than the females do. Generally, all females produce berries. Males do not. If you find a plant with berries, it’s usually a female plant. This English holly is one of the most common with its familiar glossy, dark-green spiky leaves and bright red berries often seen at Christmas time.

Horribly invasive in the Pacific Northwest. Seedlings pop up everywhere, and they're next to impossible to get out without breaking off t...Read Morehe looooong root. If you leave even a tiny piece behind, they come right back. Nasty prickly invaders of yards!