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gaalan

Color combo......

GAAlan
18 years ago

Not the sharpest picture, but this plant is wonderful right now! The red berries and yellow leaves are like this every year for about a week to ten days. This is Ilex 'Sparkleberry', taken today.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:64129}}

Comments (10)

  • SherCA
    18 years ago

    It's very bright and colorful. What a treat on a cloudy day.
    Sher

  • enchantedplace
    18 years ago

    That is beautiful. There must be a pollunator nearby. I had to find more information... so here's a link. EP

    Here is a link that might be useful: sparkleberry loves apollo

  • gldno1
    18 years ago

    That is the best advertisement for that shrub that I have ever seen. It is going on my "list". Do the berries stay on long after the leaves drop?

    Thanks EP, I was wondering what to use as a pollinator. Now I don't have to search.

  • GAAlan
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    I didn't realize how it sounds, but what I mean in my post is that the yellow leaves only last a week to ten days. The berries usually hang on till at least Jan/Feb. I have a shot on Christmas day last year with Sparkleberry in it I can show you.

    As for a pollinator, I do have an Apollo, right beside her. He is about 2' tall. I've had Sparkleberry since '98 and I really had to search a while to find a source for Apollo. I found a local nursery that had them(where I now work on Saturdays!) I bought one in spring and kept it in the container, forgot to water it and it died. That fall, Sparkleberry had no sparkle!

    Since I began working at that nursery I was exposed to other deciduous hollies. I now have four other females besides Sparkleberry: Bonfire, Red Sprite(dwarf), Winter Red and Sunset(not yet in the ground). They have Bonfire and Winter Red planted on the nursery property and both are outstanding in full fruit. I would have to say that in terms of fruit, Winter Red is perhaps the best. The fruit remain in great shape far longer than any other full sized holly. Bonfire and Sparkleberry both, perhaps becasue they are hybrids, ususally exhibit discoloration on their berries later in the season. This does not happen with WR, perhaps because it is not a hybrid, but a cultivar of verticillata only.

    Anyway the deciduous hollies are a wonderful group of plants!

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:64130}}

  • jeff_al
    18 years ago

    those are very nice, alan. how much shade can they take?
    i don't have any locations with full sun available but have an area that gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight.

  • GAAlan
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Jeff, you might be able to grow one in your four hour window. I think overall they prefer full sun. As you can see in the Christmas pic, there is a large maple close to my Sparkleberry. It is on the east side of that, so it does get shade late in the day. I believe they are worth trying to squeeze in if at all possible.

  • stimpy926
    18 years ago

    Does Sparkeberry foliage go to yellow as a norm? My Winter Reds' and Sunsets' foliage normally just goes black to brown in fall.

  • GAAlan
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Paula, for me, it has produced yellow foliage every year. The frosts do eventually turn the leaves black, but they always go through yellow to get there.

    How long have you had Sunset? I have seen a couple pics of fairly large ones and it looks like a more spreading plant than Winter Red. For some reason it is not sold very widely around here.

  • JoanMN
    18 years ago

    It's a beautiful shrub.

  • stimpy926
    18 years ago

    GAAlan, I have 2 'Sunsets', planted 18 mos. ago. I haven't hed yellow foliage on either. Is your's due to a warmer climate perhaps? I got yellow foliage on a new 'Winter Red' planted this past spring, but I think it's possibly due to a stressed summer here. At any rate, you're lucky to have that yearly!

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