We've got a small one growing from bird-planted seed near the back corner of our house. I'm looking forward to it attracting nesting hummingbirds - those spiky leaves are good protection against cats and snakes! 😎
I have an American Holly “Volunteer Orange” nativar in my backyard. It’s in full sun but gets a little late afternoon shade. My soil is alkaline so I feed it fertilizer for acid-loving plants each spring. The holly seems quite happy and is 4 feet tall. Right now it has many orange berries.
The poor things suffer so much here in southern Maine, leaf miners being a big issue. I've only seen a handful of Ilex opaca over several decades, they seem to be the favored food over the introduced landscape species. edit: At least those leaf miners don't seem to infect our native Ilex verticillata, because it's deciduous?
![Eastern Red Cedar [ Juniperus virginiana ] // Native Plant Profile](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0k_-fS9h858/mqdefault.jpg)
![Eastern Red Cedar [ Juniperus virginiana ] // Native Plant Profile](/img/tr.png)
We've got a small one growing from bird-planted seed near the back corner of our house. I'm looking forward to it attracting nesting hummingbirds - those spiky leaves are good protection against cats and snakes! 😎
That will be so exciting to watch! I love hummingbirds. And yes, protection from the cats and snakes is important!
I have an American Holly “Volunteer Orange” nativar in my backyard. It’s in full sun but gets a little late afternoon shade. My soil is alkaline so I feed it fertilizer for acid-loving plants each spring. The holly seems quite happy and is 4 feet tall. Right now it has many orange berries.
That sounds beautiful! It's nice, too, that it gets berries even at only 4 feet tall! I bet it's gorgeous.
The poor things suffer so much here in southern Maine, leaf miners being a big issue. I've only seen a handful of Ilex opaca over several decades, they seem to be the favored food over the introduced landscape species. edit: At least those leaf miners don't seem to infect our native Ilex verticillata, because it's deciduous?
Interesting! I haven't seen this issue here in Tennessee, but I could just happen to be in an area where there isn't as much pressure on them.