Holly holly holly

[moonhare]

I meant to post some pictures last month of the five feral holly plants in my yard, but when checking the trail cam one afternoon I discovered more. I was sidetracked by the holidays, and decided I’d check around to see if there were any others. Oh, my!




First found in December, 2019. https://moonhare.dreamwidth.org/2019/12/08/



These two were found shortly after. https://moonhare.dreamwidth.org/88715.html


I discovered this one maybe last year and transplanted it near to the garden shed.


This one is a bit beyond the dog’s back fence.


This was near the trail cam.

The next batch were chance discoveries, if anything is truly chance, when wandering and wondering if there were more hollies about. No snow in these pictures!








Aaaannd today I found two more (no pics) out by the garden! :o)

Edit: took pics this morning-




I don’t know if these are all American holly, ilex opaca, or something invasive. They were all planted by Nature, and there may be more. None of the ones originally discovered have flowered so I cannot tell if I have both sexes here. I may do more transplanting in the future.

Comments

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

So many hollies!

>>I don’t know if these are all American holly, ilex opaca, or something invasive.<<

It's probably wise to identify them now, so that if they are invasive, you can dig them up. If you're getting volunteers like this, they might take over your yard.

>>None of the ones originally discovered have flowered so I cannot tell if I have both sexes here.<<

They may be too young yet. My 'Royal Family' female has berries but is about knee high and quite bushy.

Re: Wow!

[moonhare]

It will be a fun adventure trying to identify them! Google Lens gives various responses when asked, so I’ll have to look for definitive traits in my quest.

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

There are hundreds of hollies and many look similar, so that's no surprise. You can check leaves, but often the flowers and fruit will be more helpful.

https://www.thespruce.com/eighteen-species-holly-trees-and-shrubs-3269647

https://www.plantsnap.com/plantblog/holly-tree-types/

Re: Wow!

[moonhare]

Thank you for the links! This could be a nice early Spring project, before the ticks become too active.

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Watch for flowers and berries. Some varieties are self-fertile, most are not; some bear earlier; and the flowers and berries are always helpful in identification. While they're young, you won't be able to use size or growth habit to distinguish them.

[spiralicious]

Wow. That is a lot of hollies.

[moonhare]

And there may be more! I need to get these plotted on a map and number them.

[spiralicious]

Wow! That sounds like might be a good idea.