Not many evergreen plants should be pruned in the middle of
winter. Most deciduous plants
– those that drop their leaves in autumn – get pruned now only
because they are dormant and not very aware of what is being done
to them.
Not many evergreen plants should be pruned in the middle of winter. Most deciduous plants – those that drop their leaves in autumn – get pruned now only because they are dormant and not very aware of what is being done to them.
Many evergreens though, will start to produce fresh new growth that is sensitive to subsequent frost.
English holly, botanical name Ilex aquifolium, is one of the few evergreen plants that does not seem to care when it gets pruned.
Even new foliage is resilient to frost. This is fortunate, since holly very often gets pruned in December so that the foliage can be used for holiday decoration.
It is perhaps the most popular non-coniferous (non ‘cone-bearing’) foliage used in wreaths.
The glossy, very spiny leaves are deep green, and can be variegated with white or yellow margins or centers.
Individual plants are either male or female. Most English holly grown in nurseries or foliage farms is female, and has male plants nearby to provide pollen needed for production of the familiar bright red berries.
However, in the garden, the female plants rarely have a source of pollen, so produce only a few sterile berries.
This is why potted English holly plants or foliage from florists typically have more berries than holly in the garden does.
Like most other types of holly, English holly grows slowly, but can eventually get wider than 10 feet and twice as tall.
It is an excellent impenetrable hedge.
It is best to prune English holly selectively with hand shears instead of shearing it with hedge shears.
Shorn plants look tattered immediately after getting shorn, and can eventually become unattractively dense.
Fortunately, they are easily restored every few years by more severe pruning. Gloves will help with the uncomfortably spiny foliage.
Tony Tomeo is a consulting horticulturist and arborist for New Image Landscape of Fremont. His weekly radio broadcast, “New Image Garden Report,” can be heard at 8:10am on Friday mornings on KSCO, 1080 AM of Santa Cruz. Tony can be reached at (888) 226-9191 or tt****@***************pe.com.
