Ilex verticillata Winterberry Holly Native Plant for Bird Gardens
Ilex verticillata Winterberry Holly is a native shrub which been a habitat success story for me. Winterberry produces flowers that are attractive to bees and in the fall bright red berries appear which birds relish. This holly is dioecious requiring both male and female planets to produce berries so I planted three female Red Sprites and one male Southern Gentleman cultivars.
When you start create a backyard habitat you never really know if a particular food source plant is actually going to appeal to wildlife or not. We have all seen plenty of plants listed as attractive to birds, however the birds ignore it in our gardens. Ilex verticillata does not fall into this category. Now that it is January in Georgia, we’ve had a couple of hard freezes and within days a flock of robins and bluebirds have cleaned the berries off my Winterberrys. I’m absolutely delighted about this as bluebirds are a new species in my yard.
To me it is more than some birds eating berries off a shrub in my yard. I have been here two years now and done extensive invasive plant clean up, plotted food sources for native wildlife and tried to design a habitat which supports them. In two years I haven’t had bluebirds. Now I do. It’s working! I’m sharing my space with wildlife and an area which once did not support a species now does. The addition of water, shelter and food is starting to pay off and make a small area which was once a wildlife desert into a space filled with life.
I could not be happier. This is why I have done all of this work, even if it is a labor of love.
Ilex verticillata Winterberry Holly is an easy to grow deciduous native shrub for average, medium to wet soil in full sun to part shade. It’s a tough plant which is adaptable to light or heavy soils but will preform best in moist, acidic, organic soils. It is native to the eastern United states and available in many cultivars from dwarf to larger specimens. The various sizes Ilex verticillata make it a plant that can be adapted to any size garden.
Oakleaf Hydrangea Still Lovely In February
Illicium floridanum Native Shrub for Shade
How wonderful to have bluebirds visit. I love bluebirds and would be excited if they visited my yard. Congratulations on the fact that your hard work has payed off!
That is truly inspiring – to have attracted birds that had not been visitors before! I do hope you can post a photo of the bluebirds, they are beautiful little birds and remind me a little of our blue wrens.
I love using plants to attract wildlife to the garden. As a horticulturist, I have enjoyed designing and planting butterfly and hummingbird demonstrations gardens in public places so that the public could enjoy the wildlife and maybe recreate them at home.
I found your blog on Blotanical – Welcome!
Now I’m officially jealous. I don’t have enough sun in my garden for this beautiful shrub, and most of my other clients have deer (who seem to like I. verticillata as much as the bluebirds), so I don’t even get to enjoy planting it in their gardens! Beautiful photo, too.
Oddly I have seen few deer…thank goodness. My I. verticillata is actually in part shade but the Georgia sun is so strong that most “sun” plants seem to actually prefer part shade or they get scorched. I don’t have any full sun either, I feel your pain on some plants but will take a shade garden any day. It’s so soothing to me.
Great that you’re getting bluebirds! do you have open fields nearby? I still don’t have bluebirds although we hang a box for them on a pasture fence and we are near open fields which is their habitat….
I have no fields, my habitat isn’t great for bluebirds at all. Providing boxes, berries and water seems to have attracted them to put up with the environment though. My open lawn space is tiny but they aren’t registering official complaints about it yet. Bluebirds showing up was a big whoop for me because I really didn’t expect them. They have been all over the houses, with the Peterson’s style the far and above favorite. Gilwood is another they are drawn to.
Thanks for this pithy and useful writeup on Ilex verticillata. How satisfying to see your place turn into a wildlife refuge, even on a minor scale! I’m lucky enough to garden where there is already wildlife, but I think about making a good environment for more.
Hey, just found you on blotanical, which seems to limp back to life. Glad to have met you, I wish there were more of use wildlife gardeners. Now let me see whether I can Fave your blog or not.
I’ve got to admit that I find using blotanical difficult. For awhile I tried finding fellow native or habitat gardener’s there but wasn’t too successful. It’s such a great idea so hope the search improves. There are some amazing gardener’s participating in the project!