Holly Ilex aquifolium Silver Variegated Holly

Planting Advice for Variegated Holly

• Few plants are more versatile than hollies, with their textural leaves, ornamental berries, and easy care, it is easy to see why they're so popular with UK gardeners.
• Generally unfussy as to soil, pot-grown trees can be planted at any time of the year as long as the soil is not waterlogged or frozen.
• Dig a square planting hole 3 x wider than the roots of the shrub you're planting and mix some well-rotted compost or manure with the soil from the hole and use this to re-fill one the shrub is in place.
• Before planting soak container-grown shrubs thoroughly and allow to drain.
• Remove your Holly from its pot and tease out a few of the roots.
• Add Mycorrhizal fungi to the roots when planting to help plants establish quicker.
• Place your tree in the hole at the same level at the pot.
• Refill the hole with the earth removed (backfilling).
• Firm in the soil with your heel, avoiding the root ball and water well.
• Mulch around the base of the plant with a collar, compost, gravel, bark etc.
• Apply a tree guard to the trunk to deter rabbits.
• If you prefer to grow your holly in a pot, use a good quality, soil-based compost.

Aftercare Advice for your Ilex aquifolium

• Hollies need almost no maintenance if you keep them well-watered for the first couple of years to enable them to establish.
• They are more or less trouble-free, with moderately fast growth.
• The more light that your holly receives, the more leaves it will produce, so plant it where it will get maximum light.
• To maximize berry production, it is worth investing in a separate, Male holly tree.

Pruning Advice for Holly

• Prune your holly in early summer so that new growth won’t get damaged by frosts. Although your plant will look neater, you may find less berries in the winter as pruning will remove some of the summer flowers that will develop into fruit.
• When pruning, remove only enough of the stem to neaten the appearance of your standard and cut at the end of a branch to a bud or leaf node.