verticullata, a native holly, is one of my favorite plants. I LOVE IT! Anyway, I bought two. You have to have male and female to get berries. The male, quite appropriately is named 'Jim Dandy' and is very low key obviously with no berries. However, he did his work, or at least the pollinators did. The female is full of berries. In addition, and this is the really cool news, there is another very large shrub in my garden which I inherited from a previous owner. I knew it was deciduous but I couldn't figure out what it was. It was so blah that I pruned it back bigtime last spring and was even thinking of taking it down. It had flowers which were very inconsipicuous.
Now, at the end of summer, it is full of berries...amazing, my own very large Ilex verticullata, commonly know as winter berry. When everything else is colorless and bear and bleak, it is in its shining glory.
Continuing to love this tree like shrub, I'm now a total convert to the amazing wonder of pollination.
Now, rush out and get one, but make sure you get two...male and female. I love Jim Dandy.
