DECEMBER, : 1906 
The American holly (Ilex opaca) common in the 
South but in the North thrives only in sheltered situa- 
tions. The beautiful red berries hang on all winter 
enjoy the berries outdoors until the holidays 
are over. Then give it a straw overcoat. 
In New England the English holly must 
be stored over winter. A living room is too 
hot; the berries will drop. If you have no 
cool greenhouse, you can store them in an 
unheated pit without even putting them in 
tubs, and it is not even necessary to keep 
the frost out. A pair of hollies near the front- 
door is the ideal thing for summer decoration. 
Bay trees are nowhere. 
I have never seen a holly hedge, but in 
Europe the English holly is considered a 
distinguished hedge plant. It can be clipped 
and pruned into any shape, and as the berries 
are not borne on the new wood, they are not 
cut off by the annual trimming, which may 
happen with American holly. Its drawback 
is its slow growth. Also, a little thrush 
eats the berries. The “Ilex” hedges of Italian 
gardens are made of holm oak (Quercus Ilex), 
which has holly-like evergreen foliage. 
The English hollies in tubs, that look so 
attractive in florists’ windows in early 
December, are very likely to lose their 
leaves and berries in a few days, when sub- 
jected to the hot, dry atmosphere of a living- 
room. If you cai.not resist buying one, put 
it in a cool, damp building until a few days 
before Christmas. After Christmas cut 
back all the branches nearly to the stem, cut 
off all the leaves, and bury the tree in the open 
ground, or in a damp cellar. Next spring 
plant it out in partial shade, and thereafter 
treat as advised for New England. 
Some enterprising Southerner could prob- 
ably get $5.00 each for wild hollies in tubs, 
if he would dig up berry-bearing plants in 
spring, prune and strip them, pot and grow 
them for a year or two. 
Southerners who transplant hollies from 
the wild to their home grounds usually fail. 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
Keep the roots damp every minute they are 
out of the ground, prune and strip as directed, 
and you will succeed. It is safer (and some- 
times cheaper) to buy nursery-grown plants. 
In the South holly often grows wild and fruits 
freely in dry, barren, gravelly soil and full sun, 
but it reaches its greatest height (fifty feet) 
in the river bottoms of southern Arkansas 
and eastern Texas. Give it rich soil and 
partial shade, if you can. 
The best time to transplant evergreen hollies, 
North or South, is in early spring, just before 
the plants start into new growth. The other 
time is in early fall, when the young wood is 
almost ripe. Their roots are thick and fleshy. 
It takes two years for Ilex seeds to germinate 
They are therefore ‘‘stratified.”” The ever- 
green species can be propagated under glass 
by cuttings of ripened wood. 
An English holly 34 to 4 feet high costs about 
$1.50, and American holly the same height, 
$1.00. The deciduous species cost 50 cents 
to 75 cents. It is not safe to eat the berries. 
They are purgative and emetic. 
Holly flowers are minute, fragrant, and 
beloved of bees. 
A new way of shipping fancy holly so as to preserve 
all the berries 
237 
PLANTERS’ GUIDE TO HOLLIES 
(The species have been already described in this order) 
A. The red and orange-berried group 
B. Color scarlet 
C. Foliage evergreen: lvs. thick 
D. Leaf margins spiny 
E. Berries on last year’s wood: 
Ivs. dark and glossy 
F. A tender tree. ENGLISH 
Hotty I. I. Aquifolium 
FF. A hardy shrub. JAPANESE 
Hotty 2. I. cornuta 
EE. Berries on this year’s wood: 
Ivs. lighter and duller. 
AMERICAN HOLLY 3. I. opaca 
DD. Leaf margins not spiny: 
plants tender 
E. Berries 4 to 2 in. in diam. 
BROAD-LEAVED 11Ex 4. I. latifolia 
EE. Berries 4} in. in diam. 
F. Clusters 75-100 fruited. 
CHRISTMAS BERRY 5. Photinia ar- 
butifolia 
FF. Clusters few fruited 
G. Berries on this year’s 
wood, dull red. panoon 6. I. Cassine 
GG. Berries on last year’s 
wood, bright, scarlet. 
CASSENA, YAUPON 7. I. vomitoria” 
CC. Foliage deciduous: lvs. thin. 
D. Fruits long stalked 
LONG-STALKED WINTER- 
berry 8. Nemopanthes 
fascicularis 
DD. Fruits short stalked 
E. Berries $ in. in diameter. 
LARGE-LEAVED WINTER- 
BERRY Q. I. monticola 
EE. Berries } in. in diam. or less 
F. Lys. turn black after frost: 
petals 5-6. Brack atper 10, I. verticillata 
FF. Lys. not turning black 
after frost: petals 4-5....11. I. serrata 
BB. Color orange or scarlet-orange: 
foliage deciduous 
C. Berries mostly on_ short 
SPUTS ore meee 12. I, decidua 
CC. Berries in axils of  lvs. 
SMOOTH WINTERBERRY 13. I. levigata 
AA. The black-berried group: fo- 
liage evergreen 
IBY) Blorall parts in)4?s)s-.-.4.-- + 14. I. crenata 
BB. Floral parts in 5’s to 8’s.....15. I. glabra 
The large leaved variety of Ilex crenata, considered better than box by some 
