Last winter, the Eastern Seaboard experienced some old-fashioned weather for the first time in 6 years. The thermometer outside the kitchen window of our southern Connecticut home ranged well below zero on several occasions during January and February, and the ground froze solid in mid-December and stayed that way until March. We chose last winter … Read more
If the Possumhaw were better known and understood, it would be used much more than it is. Few shrubs or trees give so much color to a winter landscape. The orange or scarlet berries, although not so large as those of the American or Christmas holly, are borne lavishly. In a good year, many of … Read more
Mention of holly brings visions of red berries highlighting sprays of dark green, shiny leaves, imparting to door, mantel, or table the aura of Christmas joy. But holly means far more than familiar holiday sprays. It means stately, dense evergreen trees, hedges of unequaled beauty and utility, low thick shrubs, deciduous trees, and even golden … Read more
Canary, a new yellow-berried holly, has bright yellow berries and dark green foliage and is the hardiest of the yellow-berried hollies. The parent tree, now destroyed, stood for many years high up in the Great Smoky Mountains. A lady living near this tree sent me a few branches several years ago. I grew a half … Read more
There are many plants of outstanding merit that, for one reason or another, are ignored for years, only to come into style again suddenly. The long-stalk holly (Ilex pedunculosa), a native of China, is one of these. Perhaps because it looks less like a holly than many other shrubs, it has received little attention until … Read more
One clear, cold December day, after a light fall of snow, I took a friend to see an unusual holly tree growing in a glade in the woods; You came suddenly on the holly through the thickly-growing surrounding trees. As my friend stepped into the opening where the holly was growing, and as the full … Read more
Dependably hardy, at least as far north as southern New England, Japanese holly is also easy to grow in the mid-South. Like American holly, the Japanese make a larger plant there. In fact, it can become a small tree in that mild climate. Ilex crenata and its varieties remain handsome throughout the most bitter New … Read more