Description
Ilex aquifolium – Holly
Quality: P 120-150
Brief Description: Holly is the only native broad-leaved evergreen in Central Europe – and an ecological gem. Its glossy dark green, spiny foliage provides year-round privacy and structure, while the bright red winter berries are an indispensable food source for thrushes and other birds. It is exceptionally versatile as a hedge plant, solitary specimen, or underplanting for woody plants.
Climatic Properties & Site Conditions: Holly is native to the oceanic-influenced regions of Western Germany and thrives very well in the mild Black Forest, Lake Constance, and the Rhine plain. It prefers semi-shady to shady, fresh, and acidic soils. Drying winds and severe winter frosts below –15 °C can damage the foliage – it is only conditionally suitable for harsher altitudes and continental regions of Franconia or the Swabian Alb. It tolerates calcareous soils poorly.
Advantages: Only native broad-leaved evergreen, winter berries as bird food, shade-tolerant, dense hedges possible, attractive year-round, ecologically valuable.
Disadvantages: All plant parts except the fruit pulp are poisonous to humans and dogs, no calcareous soils, frost-sensitive in severe continental winters, slow growth, spiny leaves make maintenance difficult.
