Description
Description: Many years ago, when I first started the nursery, my brother was in college. He had a friend who lived in New Britain, Connecticut. The friend’s mother had thrown a Christmas wreath of English Holly on the ground by their front door and from it, I’m assuming from one of the seeds, sprang an English Holly, which grew to quite a large size. Unbelievably, this holly was hardy enough to survive the winters in New Britain. My brother brought me some cuttings from this plant, and I’ve had one of the original cuttings planted in front of our home for many years. It has survived all the tough winters we have had in the last thirty years or so with very little damage. So a couple of years ago we decided to start propagating it. It is a relatively small leaf English Holly but with typical spines and dark green color. It is sheared quite tightly and is a very nice plant. Unfortunately, being a male it does not have berries, but still I find it interesting that an Ilex aquifolium will survive here in Connecticut when just about all the other clones I have tried have perished in cold winters. We don’t grow very many of them; but if you are interested, it will be in our price list under the name Ilex aquifolium ‘Beanie Johnson’, for that was my brother’s friend’s name – at least it was when he was in college.
