What the?!? My Ilex 'Apollo' is laden with berries.

I planted 2 Ilex 'Sparkleberry' and 1 Ilex 'Apollo' last fall. I was pleasantly surprised to see that, in addition to the female cultivars, 'Apollo' produced berries this year!

As far as I know, no one in my neighborhood has a suitable male cultivar for 'Sparkleberry'. Neighbors half a block away have Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite', but I don't think they've bought a male cultivar yet. Even if they had, apparently it wouldn't be a good match for my 'Sparkleberry' shrubs.

I took a closer look at 'Apollo' and saw several small non-fruiting branches at the bottom, and I wonder whether those branches might have been grafted on, or is it more likely that the grower stuck a small 'Apollo' in with a larger 'Sparkleberry'?

Will you grace us with images of these plants? If so, put each in its own posting, so that there are many images of one plant's parts together on a post.

If your purported 'Apollo' produced fruit, I'd cast doubt not only on whether you have true hybrid deciduous hollies but on the entire future of mankind...

Ask and ye shall receive.
Here is "'Apollo'". I tied red ribbons around the male trunks/branches, which are to the left and right of the fruitful female.

Here are photos of 'Sparkleberry' #1.

Just in case anyone notices and is wondering....the whitish spots on some of the leaves are from the baking powder in my homemade deer repellent, which is at least as effective as commercial sprays at a fraction of the cost: 1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1 quart water.

This message was edited Aug 17, 2014 5:12 PM

Last but not least, here is 'Sparkleberry' #2.

This message was edited Aug 17, 2014 5:08 PM

You don't say what condition these plants were in when you planted them - B&B, container, etc.

Did any of them have fruit on them when you bought them? By the size of the purported 'Apollo' stems, they certainly should have flowered last season. The 'Sparkleberry' plants likewise should have had fruit.

I think the 'Apollo' plant was created from multiple "sticks" (rooted cuttings) planted together, to give some male stems and some female in one "plant". One might guess that a bird deposited seed could have sprouted in an all-male plant, but the overall plant stems don't look old enough for that achievement. It is odd that a retailer would not have known this when the plant was acquired, and/or odd that the original grower would not have divulged this fact.

I would rule out grafts of male/female parts onto the opposite sex. Winterberry Holly are too easy to root from cuttings to waste time and effort with grafting.

I suspect you are aware that 'Apollo' and 'Sparkleberry' are both products of hybridization by US National Arboretum researchers. The cross involves Ilex serrata × Ilex verticillata.

That means that there are more chances for overlapping bloom times with more potential pollinating partner species of holly. Didja know that?

Promiscuous they are...

Here's good information for anyone contemplating expanding their Holly horizons...

Awesome resource VV! I found similar info online from my local nursery but it was limited to the varieties they sell.

I will tell you that all your talk in another thread about Winterberry got the bug in my mind and I went out yesterday and bought two Winter Reds and I'm going to get a Southern Gentleman in a couple weeks when the new stock arrives. The ones the nurseries looked like crap since they've been sitting out all summer in pots.

Thanks, VV.
They were in 8-10" containers, and only the 'Sparkleberry' plants had berries on them. I remember checking to make sure there were berries on the females, but don't remember whether I carefully examined the male. I doubt there were obvious berries on 'Apollo', because then I would have doubted its plant tag.

I agree that somehow, intentionally or otherwise, female and male stems ended up growing together in the same pot. Who knows, maybe someone working for the grower wasn't paying attention to what he or she was doing (one too many at lunch, maybe?).

I did know that 'Apollo' and 'Sparkleberry' were bred and introduced by US National Arboretum researchers and are crosses of 2 Ilex species, but I hadn't thought about the extended bloom time that results.

If I was unclear...

The length of time that the individual plants bloom will likely be similar to any other individuals in a species, but there will be more types of plants - Ilex verticillata, Ilex serrata, AND Ilex serrata × Ilex verticillata clones - that become potential partners.

This range of plants will have a broader range of bloom times, enhancing cross-pollination opportunities.

I would be remiss if I did not repeat the invitation to interested Holly growers to visit http://www.hollysocam.org/ and consider attending the 67th Annual Meeting in Rutgers on Oct. 22-25. You can come for a day, or the whole thing.

Great information, great people, and great plants.

You were clear; I guess I wasn't!

Let's see, how's this? It is up to 3 times as likely that there will be a potential pollinating partner species blooming nearby when they're in bloom.