Holly
If you want berries, plant a named female and make sure a male variety is within range; and be patient with a young plant, which often sits still for a year or two before it moves.
Care
Sun to shade — one of the few berrying evergreens that tolerates real shade, though variegated forms need good light.
Low — drought-tolerant once established, but water a young plant through its first two summers.
Any reasonable well-drained soil, including clay and chalk. It dislikes waterlogging more than anything else.
Clip a hedge or shape a specimen in late summer, when the new growth has hardened. Holly tolerates hard renovation pruning in spring if an old plant has become bare, and will reshoot from old wood — unusual among evergreens.
A general feed with a mulch in spring for a young plant or a clipped hedge; an established specimen needs nothing. Feeding does not improve berrying — pollination does.
Semi-ripe cuttings with a heel in late summer, in a cold frame; they are slow, often taking a year to root properly. Bear in mind that holly is usually single-sexed, so a cutting from a berrying plant gives a female that still needs a male nearby.
Month by month
Months change with the climate: in southern Italy tomatoes go out two months earlier than in England.
- AprilFeed and mulch a young plant or a clipped hedge. how ›
- AugustClip hedges and shaped specimens once the new growth has hardened. how ›
- DecemberCut berried sprigs sparingly — leave most for the birds through the hardest months.
Months based on climate: UK. Your choice stays on this device.
- AprilFeed and mulch a young plant or a clipped hedge. how ›
- AugustClip hedges and shaped specimens once the new growth has hardened. how ›
- DecemberCut berried sprigs sparingly — leave most for the birds through the hardest months.
Months based on climate: Northern Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- MarchFeed and mulch a young plant or a clipped hedge. how ›
- AugustClip hedges and shaped specimens once the new growth has hardened. how ›
- DecemberCut berried sprigs sparingly — leave most for the birds through the hardest months.
Months based on climate: Central Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- MarchFeed and mulch a young plant or a clipped hedge. how ›
- AugustClip hedges and shaped specimens once the new growth has hardened. how ›
- DecemberCut berried sprigs sparingly — leave most for the birds through the hardest months.
Months based on climate: Southern Italy and islands. Your choice stays on this device.
Common problems
How to spot it. A mature plant that flowers but never fruits.
What to do. Almost always a male plant, or a female with no male within pollinating distance — check the variety name, which is often misleading.
How to spot it. Pale winding blotches inside the leaves.
What to do. Largely cosmetic on an established plant; pick off badly mined leaves.
How to spot it. A newly planted holly shedding leaves.
What to do. Normal transplant shock — water through the first two summers and it recovers.
Popular varieties
Questions
Holly: is it hardy?
H6: Hardy in the vast majority of UK gardens. It survives down to −20 °C.
Can it grow in a pot?
Yes while young or as a clipped shape, though it will eventually want more root room than a pot allows.
Holly: when do you prune it?
Clip a hedge or shape a specimen in late summer, when the new growth has hardened. In the calendar for UK, pruning falls in August.
Holly: when does it flower?
In the climate of UK it flowers in May–June.
When do you feed it?
A general feed with a mulch in spring for a young plant or a clipped hedge; an established specimen needs nothing. Feeding does not improve berrying — pollination does. Feeding months, UK: April.