How Often Should I Water My 
Holly? 
Holly should have a great amount of water 
when planted so that the earth may be fully 
settled around the roots. If insufhcient water 
is used in planting and the earth is not properly 
settled around the roots, air pockets may remain 
in the earth. Should the roots come out into 
these air pockets, the tree may die. 
Holly should be literally soaked in water 
about once every week or ten days all through 
the growing season and during droughts in dor- 
mant periods. 
If you wish twice the growth, leaf color and 
berries of the neighbor who does not water; 
keep on watering your trees every year. 
Above all, do not just sprinkle the soil. I 
have great difficulty in impressing some people 
who say, “Oh, yes, I water all the time.” ‘They 
sprinkle the ground a little bit with the nozzle 
and believe that they have watered. I think 
nothing of putting two hundred gallons of wa- 
ter on a ten foot tree. To accomplish this, I 
make a small dike around the circumference of 
the tree just under the outer tips of the branches, 
to hold the water near the tree. Without this 
dike, the water would run right off, and the 
only alternative would be to let the nozzle run 
on the tree for a day or so. 
During droughts, the ground is so dry that 
little short of three days rain can have the effect 
of one really good watering. 
Must 1 Have Both Male and Female 
Trees? 
Yes. The female tree will not bear berries 
unless fertilized with pollen from a male tree. 
Bees have been known to carry pollen as tar 
as two miles, but you cannot be sure of the maxt- 
mum number of berries unless you have a male 
in your own yard, or in a neighboring yard. 
It is not necessary to have equal numbers of 
male and female trees, as one male is quite sufh- 
cient for ten female trees. Thus, when a hedge 
is planted, all female (berry) trees are often 
used and a male placed elsewhere. In planting 
a tree on either side of the door or steps, two 
berry trees may be used and a much smaller male 
put elsewhere. 
The male flower has tiny whitish petals with 
a yellow, fluffy pollen center. The female flower 
has the same whitish petals and a_ relatively 
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