Eco-Friendly Native Plant of the Month JANUARY 2017 NC NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY REEDY CREEK NATURE PRESERVE Photos by Larry Mellichamp Northern Mockingbird with Ilex verticillata fruit by Will Stuart Ilex verticillata Winterberry Holly A Super Winter Show whenever the protective mockingbird is off duty. The superlatives for Winterberry Male? Female? Holly are numerous and deservedly Look closely at The small clusters of tiny flowers in late spring (May) are not showy, so. As a deciduous native shrub, holly flowers in but attractive to bees. Winterberry the red berries provide a s p r i n g. M a l e spectacular winter focal point in flower on left, serves as a larval host for Henry’s the garden. And Winterberry is with 7 stamens. Elfin butterfly. favored as one of the hollies that Female on right Holly Tricks will bear fruit in partial shade, with a single Winterberry, like many hollies, is making it a popular choice. Gil green pistil. dioecious, meaning male and Nelson says, “No southern garden female flowers occur on separate should be without it.” The cut stems, location plants. Therefore be very careful to laden with berries, can be displayed during our hot or droughty summers. select both a male and female while indoors for many weeks. It is one that definitely may need shopping, and plant rather closely, to supplemental watering. insure berries. Nurseries often pair Landscape Uses cultivars with compatible bloom Winterberry is a clump forming Eco-benefits The red berries on a Winterberry time, such as ‘Winter Red’ with shrub that can grow to 10 feet tall ‘Southern Gentleman’, ‘Red Sprite’ and spread almost as wide. Because Holly are more than attractive features in the landscape. Cedar with ‘Jim Dandy’, and dwarf of its moisture loving habit, varieties ‘Berry Poppins’ with ‘Mr. Winterberry Holly would be an waxwings, mockingbirds, and robins enjoy these fruits well into the winter. Poppins’. excellent choice for a rain garden, For more Eco-Friendly pages visit According to Doug Tallamy, the by soaking rain run off or ncwildflower.org or accumulated water. However, be hermit thrush subsists largely on holly berries during the winter, ncnps.southernpiedmontchapter.wor careful to monitor your Winterberry dpress.com Holly if it is located in a drier darting in and out of the shrub ©2017 North Carolina Native Plant Society .