Photos: Hollies
I took some pictures of the yard and the new holly bushes before planting.
This is the house yard looking east toward the barrel garden. It's mostly brown now, except for the grass.
Most hollies are dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers appear on separate bushes. The "Royal Family" holly has two bushes per pot, a male and a female. This is the female side.
Note that if you get a double pot like this, and you want to plant it against something rather than in the middle of the yard, it is vitally important to position it sideways so both bushes get enough sun. If you put the side with the most berries forward and bury the male, he will likely die and leave the female with no pollination to make berries.
A medium view shows how many berries there are. I love how great this bush looks already. I'm used to planting things that look like barren little twigs. This is a whole bush already! :D
In a closeup, the berries really shine. Many birds like to eat these as a valuable winter food. I've got a deciduous winterberry holly on order from American Meadows, but they're out of males so if the female survives I'll have to get a male later.
This is the male side. You can still see some berries peeking around the edges from the female bush.
A closeup of the male side shows off the beautiful deep green leaves. This bush tolerates trimming well, so when it gets bigger, it could be used as a source of decorative holiday greenery. Remember the permaculture principles and make sure you obtain a yield. But that can be anything, such as berries that attract birds or holiday decorations. \o/ It's not "all about the fruit." It's all about learning to see the value in everything around you, as nature does.
If you look closely at the base, you can see multiple stems.
This is a wide view of the Midwinter Grove just north of the driveway. Admittedly it doesn't look very midwintery when it's all green, but it's very convincing in the snow.
Somewhere around here is where the hollies will go.
Last year's Colorado blue spruce looks bedraggled after a hot, dry summer but at least it's doing better than it was then.
The wildflower garden is fully dormant.
The wind has threshed off most of the seeds from the northern sea oats. What's left are a few little chevrons that look like flying birds.
Looking west across the prairie garden, it's mostly dry brown stems. Leaving this mess of tall stems provides cover and forage for wildlife in the winter. There are a few areas I'd like to mow down to make it easier to sow seeds earlier in the spring, but there should always be some cover left. We never mow the whole prairie garden at the same time.
In places, broad stands of goldenrods still hold up their seedheads. They attract extensive wildlife.
I love how the sun surrounds the seedheads with a halo of silver and gold.
This is the house yard looking east toward the barrel garden. It's mostly brown now, except for the grass.
Most hollies are dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers appear on separate bushes. The "Royal Family" holly has two bushes per pot, a male and a female. This is the female side.
Note that if you get a double pot like this, and you want to plant it against something rather than in the middle of the yard, it is vitally important to position it sideways so both bushes get enough sun. If you put the side with the most berries forward and bury the male, he will likely die and leave the female with no pollination to make berries.
A medium view shows how many berries there are. I love how great this bush looks already. I'm used to planting things that look like barren little twigs. This is a whole bush already! :D
In a closeup, the berries really shine. Many birds like to eat these as a valuable winter food. I've got a deciduous winterberry holly on order from American Meadows, but they're out of males so if the female survives I'll have to get a male later.
This is the male side. You can still see some berries peeking around the edges from the female bush.
A closeup of the male side shows off the beautiful deep green leaves. This bush tolerates trimming well, so when it gets bigger, it could be used as a source of decorative holiday greenery. Remember the permaculture principles and make sure you obtain a yield. But that can be anything, such as berries that attract birds or holiday decorations. \o/ It's not "all about the fruit." It's all about learning to see the value in everything around you, as nature does.
If you look closely at the base, you can see multiple stems.
This is a wide view of the Midwinter Grove just north of the driveway. Admittedly it doesn't look very midwintery when it's all green, but it's very convincing in the snow.
Somewhere around here is where the hollies will go.
Last year's Colorado blue spruce looks bedraggled after a hot, dry summer but at least it's doing better than it was then.
The wildflower garden is fully dormant.
The wind has threshed off most of the seeds from the northern sea oats. What's left are a few little chevrons that look like flying birds.
Looking west across the prairie garden, it's mostly dry brown stems. Leaving this mess of tall stems provides cover and forage for wildlife in the winter. There are a few areas I'd like to mow down to make it easier to sow seeds earlier in the spring, but there should always be some cover left. We never mow the whole prairie garden at the same time.
In places, broad stands of goldenrods still hold up their seedheads. They attract extensive wildlife.
I love how the sun surrounds the seedheads with a halo of silver and gold.
