American Holly Bush - Holly Bushes in American History
Saturday November 22, 2003
I'm hoping Jeff Ball's introduction to American holly bushes will cause you to be on the lookout for them in your neighbors' landscape designs this winter. American holly bush makes for a nice lawn or garden specimen, which can be set off this time of year by Christmas lawn and garden decor. Jeff begins with some history, noting that when the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts in 1620, they saw American holly bushes....
They were immediately reminded of the English holly bushes they had known back home. After some other historical tidbits, Jeff proceeds to tell us about the growth habits, landscaping uses and care of American holly bushes. Perhaps Ball's fine introduction to American holly bushes will inspire you to plant some in your own landscaping!
Comments
help, my holly did so well all winter and this spring I have just notices the top 3/4’s of the branches to be dry/brownish/dead. What should I do? Cut it back? What did I do wrong? I love this plant and it is a hybrid, male/female cross (prince, princess).
It’s possible that road salt got it this winter, but it’s hard to say, especially without being there.
In my article on holly, I quote holly expert Andrew Bunting on the issue of pruning. Some of this may applicable to your case:
If you have an old holly plant on your landscape which you wish to rejuvenate, Bunting has some tips on pruning holly shrubs. Bunting advises that you “‘hat rack’ it in late winter by cutting back the branches by half to three-quarters of their length. The remaining plant will have few leaves and look like a hat rack, but in spring it will flush out with new foliage from all the pruning cuts. In two to three years, it will be fully covered in leaves. Hat racking will result in a plant much reduced in size, but still full of foliage.”
I have two well developed Holly Bushes, one on either side of our front stairs. We are in a new home and they were planted about 5 years ago. This spring , one of the bushes developed what looked like little white mini worms all over the branches and leaves. The leaves are now falling off. We did spray with an insecticide( MONTEREY GARDEN INSECT SPRAY) the garden shop recommended. The white specks are now spreading to the other bush. This is not helping. Any suggestions
Could be leaf miner larvae. If you don’t want to give insecticide another shot on your holly bushes, try parasitic wasps.