The useful holly makes an ideal hedge and does well in informal groups and as a background for dogwood and other flowering shrubs, but perhaps nowhere is it more effective in landscape work than when planted with plenty of room to grow into a beautiful specimen tree. You will enjoy it a long time, for every holly should live to be at least 100 years old. Many of the hollies which furnish my cutting stock are from 300 to 400 years old; some are said to be even older.
The only hard part about growing holly is establishing it. This is easy if you use plenty of oak leafmold when planting, add more every two years and keep a blanket of oak leafmold over the roots at all times. I have found that this is the real secret of success with hollies. If you use enough of it, little else is necessary to grow beautiful specimens. Oak leafmold furnishes the necessary food, holds moisture and is a wonderful insulating blanket in both winter and summer. Frost penetrates such a cover only about 3 inches, while without a blanket, frost will penetrate into the ground beside a holly tree to a depth of 24 to 30 inches. In summer it is of equal value; many times summer heat will kill the little rootlets near the surface.
Chemical fertilizers should not be used on hollies. In fact, no food other than oak leafmold should be given unless growth seems slight and color somewhat light. If such a condition occurs put on some cottonseed meal and tobacco in early spring or fall or both times. Use a hoe and cultivator sparingly; just keep weeds and grass from growing over the roots.
Don’t worry about the right soil; holly grows equally well in sand, gravel, clay or rock. Remember, though, to use lots of oak lea fmold when you plant and to give them plenty of water. A good watering once a week until the plant is established is good practice on all newly planted trees. We always build a little ridge or dike to hold water; this allows a real soaking when you water.
Care in Winter
As hollies are most attractive in winter when they display their red berries, try to select a spot where your tree will be easily seen from indoors. If you live north of Philadelphia or in a high altitude, give some thought to protection from cold, dry winds. If there is no protection front buildings or groups of evergreens, put up a snow knee. All you have to do is break the force of the wind. Do not wrap the trees with burlap. I have seen valuable hollies injured or killed by the use of burlap wrapping. They can stand a lot more wind, for instance, than hemlocks. Ocean winds do little harm; I have sold many hollies to replace pines on the ocean front which were destroyed by hurricanes.
Hollies can be transplanted almost any time of the year if dug with a large, tight ball of earth around the roots, but March, April, September and October are much the better months. The poorest time to move the plants is when the hollies have tender new growth; in New Jersey this is in late May and June. Our large, dense specimens, which may be 10 to 18 feet high and weight up to six tons, do better when transplanted titan our smaller stock.
Hollies with multiple stems develop, with age, into more perfect specimens than do single-trunk trees. Most single-trunk hollies after 50 years or more tend to develop open spaces and grow thinner and more scraggly, while multiple-stem stock stays compact and grows thicker and heavier with age. Unlike hemlock and arborvitae, they are not pulled apart-in winter by snow and ice, and they grow about the same number of inches in height per year as the single-trunk trees. Years ago the demand by landscape architects was mostly for single-stern hollies; now I sell ten multiple-stemmed large specimen hollies to one with a single trunk.
Named Hollies
American hollies sold today are vastly improved over most of those one could buy 25 years ago. More and more hollies are now sold by name and as a whole it is much safer in buy them by name. Named hollies are comparatively new, however, and most of us know little about the merits of the individual trees. I will try to give you some personal observations from my 40 years of experience in working with hollies.
Young hollies show little individuality, but as they mature they differ greatly. Some are quite dwarf and compact. Perhaps the most dwarf are CAPE COD and MASSACHUSETTS DWARF. These have medium-sized leaves and hear many berries. Both lose their dwarf habit when planted away from the ocean in the mountains or in the Midwest.
CLARKE is a good variety for hedges and has been used for quite a long time. It is a heavy hearer and the leaves are a good green. Unfortunately, it loses its berries in late winter and sometimes drops most of its leaves, too. CHRISTMAS HEDGE bears heavily and has larger. darker leaves.
As for specimen holly trees, there are many good ones. Griscom grows tall and narrow like some firs: and cedars and has dark leaves with lute of berries. MERRY CHRISTMAS and OLD HEAVY BERRY grow into tall trees which are much broader and not so compact.
MERRY CHRISTMAS is one of the hardiest varieties of American hollies. The parent tree is located high in the Catskills above Eldred, N. Y. Its leaves are large and dark and it bears fruit consistently year after year. It does well in Michigan and all the northern tier of states eastward and seems to do better in mountain areas than other hales.
OLD HEAVY BERRY is my favorite. Built like an oak, it has character and remarkable vigor. There is a playhouse among its branches, and I have often climbed all the way to its top. The leaves are dark, very heavy and ribbed. Its name is an indication of the way it bears berries. About 50 years ago the whole top was broken off and a bonfire built under the tree burned it so badly it seemed it could not recover, hut today this OLD HEAVY BERRY is a beautiful specimen.
BOUNTIFUL, another good holly, is quite different in structure from OLD HEAVY BERRY. It is a magnificent tree, with all its light, willowy branches radiating from a straight central trunk. With its leaves stripped, this holly tree would look for all the world like a pin oak. The tips of its lower branches touch the ground, and many have taken root.
ARDEN does not grow quite as large as the other four varieties. Its leaves are apt to lie rather light, but its berries are prominently displayed. Some of the good named hales bide their berries among the leaves. CARDINAL, like ARDEN, displays a heavy set of berries every year. CROONENBURG, with large, dark loaves and lots of berries, is one of the best of the Southern hollies. Thus6 who have tried to grow it north of New Jersey have found that it is not hardy enough for that area.
Yellow Berries
CANARY is an unusual holly with bright yellow berries. I found it growing deep in the Great Sinokies, where it stood on a small bluff at the junction of a dry gulch and a mountain stream. Probably 100 years old, it was as straight as a tulip poplar, and covered with berries. About 15 feet away stood a large red-berried holly. The limbs of the two trees interlaced, so that masses of red berries were mingled with the bright yellow ones. Branches of each tree extended far into the other, yet the same pollen brought by bees made yellow berries on one branch and red on the other. I believe those two hollies growing side by side deep in the forest made a greater impression on me than any other hollies I have ever seen.
by D Earle – 62843
