Ilex meserveae - Blue Holly

Variety overview

Specifications:

Origin:

A cross between indigenous and Eastern Siberian/Northern Japanese Ilex species. Cultivated as an especially frost hardy, evergreen variety with plentiful fruit.

Habit:

There are presently more than 20 varieties; usually small to large shrubs; see overview of varieties.

Flower:

Dioecious, numerous small white flowers in May; somewhat fragrant.

Fruit:

Female varieties sometimes have a lot of fruit, pea-size or somewhat larger, light to shiny red, colours appearing later than with I. aquifolium, persistent; poisonous.

Leaves:

Evergreen, never turning colours despite the name; bronze-green when shooting, then shiny dark green, often blackish or crimson-green in winter, leathery, soft, thorns hardly prickly.

Demands:

Sun to light shade, few fruits in deep shade, likes warmth, usually frost hardy, good in urban areas.

Soil:

Fresh to moist, acidic to slightly alkaline, well drained, sandy-humic substrates favourable; not growing on heavy soil, where its hardiness is also not satisfactory.

Hardiness:

Zone 6b

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