Winterberry

Posted in Gardening Tips on December 20 2010, by Sonia Uyterhoeven

Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education.

One of my favorite plants from October well into December is winterberry or Ilex verticillata. It is one of those shrubs that should be put on every homeowner’s favorite list.

There is nothing spectacular about winterberry early in the season. The white flowers in June are inconspicuous and for most of the season you have a handsome shrub with a decent height (generally 6-10 feet) and a nice upright oval form.

Once the fall comes the story changes – this multi-stemmed shrub is covered with a magnificent display of brightly colored berries (technically drupes).  As the season progresses, the foliage colors up to a yellowish color and drops – it is one of the deciduous hollies – leaving the naked branches to display the berries in their full glory.

These hollies are dioecious (of two houses) meaning that you have male and female flower on separate plants. The females are the showy plants that are covered with the berries later in the season. The male can be tucked back in a corner out of sight.

Winterberry is a native. It is indigenous from Nova Scotia down to Florida and across to Missouri. In its native habitat it prefers moist soils and swamps but it grows prodigiously in average garden soils. In moist soils it has a habit of suckering while it retains a more upright shape in average soils.

It’s a no fuss shrub with few problems and the added benefit that the berries are a wonderful food source for winter birds. The berries take a while to soften up so they are usually passed over by migratory birds. They decorate the plant until winter residents get hungry and start to clean them off (anywhere from December to February).

They are many excellent cultivars available on the market. Buy your winterberry from a reliable nursery, so that you can be assured that the shrubs are properly labeled and that you are purchasing both male and female. Make sure that the male and female are compatible – meaning that they have similar flowering times.

One of the most popular varieties on the market is a cultivar named ‘Winter Red’ (‘Southern Gentleman’ is a good pollinator). It has great berry retention, is incredibly showy and grows to about 8 feet tall. If you are looking for a smaller plant try the compact ‘Red Sprite’ that matures to 5 feet (‘Jim Dandy’ and ‘Apollo’ are good pollinators). ‘Cacapon’ height falls somewhere in between these two reaching 6-8 feet and retains berries as well as ‘Winter Red’.

If you are looking for a different color in the fruits try ‘Winter Gold’, ‘Goldfinch’ with their golden fruits or ‘Aurantiaca’ with its orange fruits. Winterberry will brighten up your yard in the fall and early winter months. Cut off a few branches to bring inside and spice up your floral arrangements.