Type: Shrub, evergreen
Family: Aquifoliaceae
Foliage color:
Flower color:
Fruit color:
An evergreen shrub native to Europe and North Africa. It is distinguished by its spiny leaves with cream margins. It provides food and shelter for birds during winter.
One of the most familiar evergreen trees, holly is dioecious, meaning that flowers that produce fruit and those that produce pollen are found on separate trees. Only female trees have bright red berries, a beloved food for hungry birds. But that requires male plants nearby to fertilize them.
Fruitfulness is not an individual achievement, but a community result. If you feel “unproductive” despite doing everything right, you might simply be too far away from the rest of the grove.
[1] Preda, M. – Dicționar dendrofloricol, Ed. Științifică și Enciclopedică, București, 1989.
[2] https://powo.science.kew.org
[3] https://www.eol.org
[4] https://www.rhs.org.uk
[5] https://www.gardenersworld.com