NICE! Plant of the Month
(Ilex decidua)
© USDA, NRCS, 1995-Midwestern Wetland Flora. Image courtesy of USDA NRCS National PLANTS database.
Description:
An excellent multi-trunked small tree, typically 12-15 feet tall, with smooth gray bark. The bright green leaves are deciduous, and are larger and thinner than the evergreen Yaupon Holly. Small white flowers appear in early spring, and female plants bear bright red to orange berries in fall. Berries may last through the winter unless eaten by birds. To assure a female plant, purchase in the late summer or fall when berries are present. Pollination is necessary to produce berries, but there are normally enough male plants around to accomplish this naturally. Other cultivated hollies may also pollinate.
Possumhaw Holly grows in woods and at edges of swamps in East and Central Texas, south to Victoria, and from Virginia to Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. Its berries attract mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, and other birds, and its blooms attract bees in spring.
Deer Resistance:
Deer may rub on this plant, as with many trees, and may moderately browse the foliage.
Planting Sites:
For berry production, site should receive 6 hours of full sun per day, but plant will tolerate dappled shade or part shade. Soil may be sand, loam, clay, or caliche, acid or calcareous. Can tolerate seasonal poor drainage.
Planting Instructions:
Dig hole at least 2 times wider than, but the same depth as the nursery container. Carefully remove tree from container, taking care not to disturb the root ball. Plant at the same depth as the soil in the container. Do not add any soil to the top of the root ball. Adding a layer of 3-4 inches of mulch after planting is desirable
Watering Instructions:
If planting in spring: Water in well after planting, using root stimulator according to directions. Water deeply every 7-10 days, checking an inch or two into soil at edge of root ball to determine soil moisture. Skip a watering after a rainfall of ½ to 1 inch.
First fall/winter:
Maintain this watering schedule until the first fall after planting. Reduce water during fall and winter. In a “normal” year, no watering may be necessary in fall and winter, but during a dry period, monthly watering may be desirable.
Second spring and thereafter:
Water monthly only in periods of drought. Once established, Possumhaw Holly will survive with only 10-20 inches of rainfall per year.
Other care:
Remove unwanted suckers to select main trunks. Do not cut back branches from tips, as this will ruin the natural tree shape. Remove entire branches back to the trunk if there is unwanted growth.
NICE! Tip:
Use instead of Crape Myrtle, Purple-leaf Plum, ornamental plums, Bradford Pear, or non-native large hollies such as Nellie Stevens or Burford.
Look for the NICE! Plant of the Month signs and information sheets on your next visit to a participating Boerne nursery. And thank you for supporting native plants by using them in your landscapes.