Description
Description: Those of you that know me realize that this is one of my favorite plants. Also, one of my great frustrations in life is my inability to sell it. Ilex pedunculosa is certainly one of the hardiest of any of the hollies. It is a tree that can reach a height of 30 feet, and its evergreen leaves, although described by some as laurel-like, to me look like those of a pear. The red fruits are produced on a long fruit stalk that can be an inch and a half long. I have an Ilex pedunculosa planted on the northwest corner of my house which is on a relatively windswept hill. Even in the severest winters, I have never seen a brown leaf on this plant. This is a native of China and Japan and was introduced into England by E. H. Wilson in 1901. Although a bit sprawling and requiring shearing when young, it provides an excellent specimen when older. Come what may, we will continue to grow it and do our best to introduce it to the public with the aid, I hope, of some cooperative retail nurserymen. We list both male and female plants – the male growing about half as fast and large as the female. The clones we grow came from the University of Massachusetts many years ago.
