Well, you do need a male and a female. How old are the plants? Did they have berries when you bought them?

Linda, Without a photo it is impossable to tell what ilex you have, but just shooting off my hip by your description I will guess it is a variety of Ilex x meserveae. It's very wide with long leggy branches and has a wide opening in the middle and back due to the branches being way too long and leggy. Again I am speculating not knowing the variety but the wide opening is not due to lack of pruning it is more likely winter damage and the long leggy branches are the result of the shrub growing into its natural form. One of the wonderful things about hollies is they love to be pruned and you can do this year round (most folks will waite until the holiday season and use their cuttings in seasonal displays.) I would strongly suggest you determine what type of holly you have and deceide whether its sited correctly...after all what is the point of having a shrub growing where you have to constantly shear it into a form that is not natural for the plant. kt

You were misinformed. Oak leaf holly (Ilex x 'Conaf') is a female plant and does require pollination from a male to produce berries. 'Festive' or 'Little Red' are males from the same breeding line and should work.

When you preserve juniper that has berries with glycerine and usually a natural color green dye, the juniper will preserve and the foilage will color but the berries do not. The reason that the berries do not take up the dye nor the glycerin is because berries do not have any draw. The best book on glycerine preserving with dyes and glycerine that I have ever read is publication #420 "Guidelines for Preserving and Coloring Flowers and Foliage with Glycerin and Dyes" By Mark Koch. You can get the information at the web site of Robert Koch Industries, Inc. www.kochcolor.com