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Winterberry |
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Winterberry Holly |
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Michigan Holly |
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Common Winterberry |
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Black Alder |
Ilex verticillata | Accepted |
Ilex verticillata subsp. tenuifolia | Synonym |
Ilex verticillata var. fastigiata | Synonym |
Ilex verticillata var. padifolia | Synonym |
Plant Habit: | Shrub |
Life cycle: | Perennial |
Sun Requirements: | Full Sun Full Sun to Partial Shade Partial or Dappled Shade |
Water Preferences: | Wet Wet Mesic Mesic |
Soil pH Preferences: | Strongly acid (5.1 – 5.5) Moderately acid (5.6 – 6.0) |
Minimum cold hardiness: | Zone 3 -40 °C (-40 °F) to -37.2 °C (-35) |
Maximum recommended zone: | Zone 9b |
Plant Height: | 6 - 12 feet (1.8 - 3.6 m) |
Plant Spread: | 6 - 12 feet (1.8 - 3.6 m) |
Leaves: | Good fall color Deciduous |
Fruit: | Showy Edible to birds |
Fruiting Time: | Late summer or early fall |
Flowers: | Inconspicuous Blooms on old wood Blooms on new wood |
Flower Color: | White |
Bloom Size: | Under 1" |
Flower Time: | Late spring or early summer |
Uses: | Windbreak or Hedge Provides winter interest Will Naturalize |
Wildlife Attractant: | Bees Birds Butterflies |
Propagation: Seeds: | Stratify seeds Other info: Must have both a male-flowered and female-flowered plants with overlapping bloom times to have berries. |
Propagation: Other methods: | Cuttings: Stem Cuttings: Tip Layering Division |
Pollinators: | Bees |
Miscellaneous: | Dioecious |
Posted by TBGDN (Indiana - Zone 5a) on Nov 22, 2013 5:24 PM These bright berries are abundant in low lying boggy/swampy areas locally. I only recently learned these existed in our county. They are plentiful in September and October; and it appears birds and other small wildlife feed on them. [ Reply to this comment | |
Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Dec 18, 2017 7:07 PM Common Winterberry is a wonderful deciduous holly species that is native from Nova Scotia and far southeast Canada, New England down into Louisiana up to northern Minnesota & Wisconsin. In the wild it grows in bogs, swamps, wet meadows, along creeks and lakes and moist woods edges. Its twigs are smooth, slender, zigzag, and dark gray to gray-brown to purplish and the stem bark is smooth and gray. It has small white waxy flowers with staminate flowers with 4 tiny anthers on male plants and pistillate flowers with a tiny pistil on female plants in June. The female plants then bear the scarlet red to orange-red berries in late summer that can last into February, depending, as the birds and small mammals love them. Usually in the wild this species only grows in draining wet, acid soil below pH 6.0, but it has been reported to grow in alkaline soil up to pH 8.0. My two cultivars are doing well in moist, sometimes dry, pH 6.9 soil in the backyard. This shrub has a shallow lateral root system and it transplants easily. It is offered by many garden centers and nurseries in several male or female cultivars. Some native plant nurseries offer the straight species. [ Reply to this comment | |
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