Winterberry Varieties

Though winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is considered attractive throughout the year, the plant is particularly appreciated for its ability to light up the winter scene with its glossy, green foliage and bright-red berries. Winterberry develops in upright, rounded and spreading forms and reaches heights of two to 12 feet at maturity, depending on the variety. It is suitable for planting in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9.

Females

Female winterberry plants display flowers or blossoms in groups of 2 or three. Each bloom has a distinct bump in the center. This protrusion is the plant ovule. Berry Heavy (Ilex verticillata”Berry Heavy”) is among the several feminine winterberry plants. A plant, Berry Heavy creates blossoms of bright-red berries which last from late autumn through the year’s close. Its foliage takes a purplish-bronze tint in autumn. Berry Heavy’s mature size is 6 to 8 feet. Similarly, Berry Nice (Ilex verticillata”Berry Nice”) creates white blossoms in spring and deep-red berries which provide stark contrast to its foliage throughout fall and winter. A relatively small bush with older heights of 5 to 8 feet, Sparkleberry (Ilex verticillata”Sparkleberry”) generates masses of miniature, blazing red berries throughout a lot of winter.

Male Pollinators

Winterberry plants’ flowers are full of pollen which fertilizes nearby plants that were female. Winterberry plants that are male produce no berries , however, and are grown simply to pollinate plants. One instance of a man winterberry plant is Southern Gentleman (Ilex verticillata”Southern Gentleman”), a hardy variety that evolves to heights of about 12 feet. It exhibits ivory-tinted blossoms in late spring, although the shrub develops no berries. Apollo (Ilex verticillata”Apollo”) is a man, vertical tree with older heights of 6 to 10 ft ) Apollo is appreciated because of its foliage. Another man variety, Raritan Chief (Ilex verticillata”Raritan Chief”), is a spreading shrub with dense, shiny foliage. At adulthood, Raritan Chief is 7 feet tall and 12 feet wide.

Dwarfs

Dwarf winterberry plants, accessible both male and female types, are small variations and ideal for planting in small gardens or containers. At mature heights of only 3 to 5 feet and an equal spread, Red Sprite (Ilex verticillata”Red Sprite”) is 1 instance of a dwarf female winterberry. Red Sprite is valued because of its red berries which appear throughout the majority of winter in early autumn and continue, and because of its greenish-white blossoms, which decorate the shrub in spring and early summer. Jim Dandy (Ilex verticillata”Jim Dandy”) is an early-flowering male dwarf winterberry often utilized to pollinate Red Sprite. Though no berries are produced by Jim Dandy, it has green foliage which develops a tint in autumn. Jim Dandy reaches older heights of only 4 feet.

Pollination

Fruit sets only on winterberry plants pollinated by a minumum of one man winterberry plant roughly 50 feet, at relatively close proximity. Five to 10 plants can be pollinated by 1 plant that is male. At precisely the exact same moment, female and male plants need to bloom for pollination to occur. Jim Dandy is an early-season pollinator suitable for pollinating Afterglow, Berry Heavy and Berry Nice varieties. Apollo and Southern Gentleman are bloomers often utilized to pollinate Sparkleberry.

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