{"id":3335,"date":"2020-08-03T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/?p=3335"},"modified":"2020-08-03T08:44:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T12:44:39","slug":"the-lonely-ilex-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/the-lonely-ilex-family\/","title":{"rendered":"The lonely Ilex family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have been working in the industry a long time, and I have come to look at some plants as&#8230; lonely. Lonely maybe isn\u2019t the word, but underappreciated isn&#8217;t the correct word either. The sparkling Stellas and Endless Summers of the world are not lonely plants. Even plants like Clethra and Fothergilla are not lonely plants.<\/p>\n<p>I do think of all Ilex as lonely but I think of the verticillatas &#8211; Michigan Holly &#8211; as the loneliest. They seem lonelier than glabras (Inkberry) for some reason. Unlike their loved big brothers who are evergreen with classic holly leaves, the verticillatas are considered old fashioned and without much flair. BUT LET ME TELL YOU! There are some new cultivars and hybrids on the market, and they will make you wish all Ilex were deciduous because, \u201cThe berries are where it\u2019s AT!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"berry_heavy_ilex-1104_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/berry_heavy_ilex-1104_683.jpg\" alt=\"Ilex verticillata Berry Heavy\" width=\"683\" height=\"466\" data-id=\"3346\" data-init-width=\"683\" data-init-height=\"466\" data-width=\"683\" data-height=\"466\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Berry Heavy\u00ae Red<\/p>\n<p>The older varieties like \u00a0\u2018Winter Red\u2019 and \u2018Sparkleberry\u2018 are awesome when the leaves drop and the best berry display is in view. But these older varieties can get a little leggy and out of control if they are not maintained. The older cultivars also have men in their lives that get unruly after a while &#8211; go figure!<\/p>\n<p>There are several breeding programs that excite me.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"berry_poppins_ilex_verticillata-1-3_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/berry_poppins_ilex_verticillata-1-3_683.jpg\" alt=\"Ilex verticillata Berry Poppins\" width=\"683\" height=\"488\" data-id=\"3347\" data-init-width=\"683\" data-init-height=\"488\" data-width=\"683\" data-height=\"488\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Berry Poppins\u00ad\u00ae<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Berry Poppins\u00ae:<\/strong> How about heavy berries, (read COPIOUS) on a 4&#8242; tall dwarf plant, perfectly sized for the landscape. The berries are large and an orange-red in color. The leaves also drop a little earlier than other hollies for a longer display. The pollinator is&#8230; are you ready? Mr. Poppins\u00ae.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"little_goblin_guy_winterberry_holly_male_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/little_goblin_guy_winterberry_holly_male_683.jpg\" alt=\"Ilex verticillata LIttle Goblin Guy\" width=\"683\" height=\"455\" data-id=\"3348\" data-init-width=\"683\" data-init-height=\"455\" data-width=\"683\" data-height=\"455\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Poppins\u00ae<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Berry Heavy\u00ae Red:<\/strong> bred for better bearing (copious again) and even longer persistence. The berries are bright red and nicely bunched along the stem. This one will reach 6-8\u2019 in height. The pollinator is again, Mr. Poppins\u00ae. (He does get around, along with his friend &#8216;Jim Dandy&#8217; who can help out with the pollination duties.) There is also a gold-berried version, Berry Heavy\u00ae Gold.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"berry_heavy_gold_ilex_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/berry_heavy_gold_ilex_683.jpg\" alt=\"Ilex verticillata Berry Heavy Gold\" width=\"683\" height=\"488\" data-id=\"3345\" data-init-width=\"683\" data-init-height=\"488\" data-width=\"683\" data-height=\"488\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Little Goblin\u00ae Red:<\/strong> this is a 4\u2019 dwarf with extra-large red berries. Her pollinator is Little Goblin\u00ae Guy. There is also a orange berried variety in the Goblin series.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"little_goblin_orange_winterberry_holly_683\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/little_goblin_orange_winterberry_holly_683.jpg\" alt=\"Ilex verticillata Little Goblin Orange\" width=\"683\" height=\"455\" data-id=\"3349\" data-init-width=\"683\" data-init-height=\"455\" data-width=\"683\" data-height=\"455\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Litte Goblin\u00ae Orange<\/p>\n<p>We are not always appreciative of new plants. Does that make them lonely? My opinion on these plants is that anything to bring the poor Michigan Holly into the spotlight is good. But I have also been watching these new varieties for a couple of years now and these are good plants and a welcome addition.<\/p>\n<p>P.S. Part two may be on all the cool and awesome new Inkberry cultivars&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"roth1\" src=\"\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/roth1.png\" alt=\"Kim Roth\" width=\"600\" height=\"175\" data-id=\"3015\" data-init-width=\"600\" data-init-height=\"175\" data-width=\"600\" data-height=\"175\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have been working in the industry a long time, and I have come to look at some plants as&#8230; lonely. Lonely maybe isn\u2019t the word, but underappreciated isn&#8217;t the correct word either. The sparkling Stellas and Endless Summers of the world are not lonely plants. Even plants like Clethra and Fothergilla are not lonely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,22,6],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-3335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-85","category-landscaping","category-plants","tag-kim-roth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3335"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3361,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions\/3361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christensensplantcenter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}