| What male female plant ratio do I need when installing this plant to ensure propagation (strongh blooms). All plants would be installed next to one another is the same bed? Will this plant honestly perform well in the hot Georgia (Zone 7) metro Atlanta sun? Do I need to add acidic matter when installing this plant to ensure good health? |
| Little Rascal Holly is a male and was bred for hardiness, compact growth, and deep purple winter color. There is no female counterpart, but your male shrubs will produce pollen and can pollinate female hollies in the vicinity. The flowers on your shrubs(correctly called inflorescences) will be inconspicuous, but they will be there. Since your hollies are males, they will never produce berries. You can plant any of the blue meserve female hollies (such as Blue Girl or Blue Princess) to get berries. You don't need to plant the male and females in a line, unless you want to. The flowers will be pollinated by flying insects and it takes only one male for a half-dozen females to produce berries. Hollies appreciate acidic soils; you can amend the planting bed with peat moss and feed with an acidified fertilizer to make them happy. The spacing distance will depend upon the mature size of the hollies. Little Rascal gets about 3'; Blue Girl gets 6' wide and Blue Princess is a much larger shrub, growing twice as tall and 8-10' wide. When spacing, be sure to allow sufficient room all around for mature growth. Hope this clarifies things for you. |
