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2 questions on blue prince holly

15 years ago

I planted a Blue Prince in my back bed as a pollinator for a Golden Girl thats in my foundation bed. I bought it w/out having a home for it b/c I want those yellow berries so badly.

I have it in an area under a pine and dedicous trees--it gets SOME sun, but not much. Its not deep in the shade--about a foot from full sun. question #1--how much shade will they tolerate? I want this guy to flower so the bees will visit. He'll get more before the trees leaf out in May, which is about when they flower anyway, right?

Second question is...I have some leaves that have yellowed and are dropping. Is this a shortage of water? Its been VERY hot and dry, but I 've been watering it here and there.

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Comments (4)

User
15 years ago
Don't know how helpful this will be to you but I recently planted a row of Blue Princess and one Blue Prince holly under some deciduous trees (Red Maple and Japanese Maple). The exposure is southern but the maples make it a dappled sun exposure protected from the hottest sun. I had flowers on the hollies earlier in the season and this was their first year in the ground. You should mulch them and supply some more supplemental watering. Yes, it has been warm but more importantly, it seems like we are entering a drier period and new transplants most definitely NEED supplemental watering before they really get established. Hope this was helpful. Good luck!
pineresin
15 years ago
Hollies are generally tolerant of a good deal of shade - you shouldn't have a problem.

Resin
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You are in zone 9, I would reconsider a different plant. Most sites that profile or sell either of these hollies can be easily found online for both 'Blue Prince' and 'Blue Princess', they are very common and it is VERY easy to find information on them. A google search is all you need. http://www.evergreenplantnursery.com/Blue-Princess-Holly-p/holbpc1.htm Ilex x meserveae 'Blue Princess' A Meserve hybrid holly that is the female clone match for Blue Prince Holly. A much improved version of Blue Girl Holly, and known as one of the best berry producers of all Hollies. Berries are a dark red color, and are set against foliage that is a lustrous bluish green color. Has a good, dense growth habit and is very broad in growth as well - not quite as pyramidal as Blue Prince. Considered as one of the hardiest of all the Meserve hybrid hollies, right along with Blue Prince. Likes full sun, but will accept fair amounts of shade as well. Somewhat moist, well drained soil is preferred for best results. Must use Blue Prince to pollinate in order to achieve berry production. Height: 12-15 ft Spread: 8-10 ft Growth Rate: Moderate ( 4"-6" avg per year ) Hardiness Zones: 5-8 Sun Exposure: Full sun to shade Soil Preference: Average to moist & fertile - well drained Now notice is says zones 5-8. You being in zone 9 indicates it is somewhat out of the range. You can try it, but I would imagine there would be better choices for your zone. I would look into other alternatives for your site. Camellias, Daphne, Ceanothus. Where do you live? I would make the choice much easier if you indicated where in the country you actually live!
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I can't really give you any advice on the Inkberry. I don't have it myself, have seen it do great in some places. You might want to dig around the base to see if there was a planting issue (was it planted too low, is it too close to the house and the overhang is not allowing it to get the rain?). The Blue Boy should be fine for the Blue Princess as they are both types of Ilex x meserveae. If you don't see evidence of pollination after the first full year in place, you can add a Blue Prince somewhere to the property then, but I don't think you'll need it.
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You might consider Ilex x meservae 'Mondo' aka 'Little Rascal' as it meets your height requirements and as most meservae will tolerate the north shade of a building. It has been a fast growing, insect resistant, void of winter burn, in coastal MA. kt
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Where did you get said 'Prince/Princess'? If Home Depot (I've noticed they often tag their Blue hollies with 'Blue Prince/Blue Princess') , I wonder if they don't combine male-female plants in the same pot to assure a berry set. I bought one too and it does get a few berries, though not prolific. But as GardenGal said, if you're getting berries, that plant is female. A closeup pic of the holly flowers would reveal whether they are male or female. Male holly flowers have a depression in the middle; whereas the female flowers have a green developing ovule/berry.
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davidrt28 (zone 7)
15 years ago
We ought to just change the name of this forum to "Conifers and Hollies" LOL.
Yellowing is a bit of a mystery to me. My experience with hollies - which is pretty extensive in the past couple years - is that they will have droopy new growth as a sign of drought stress. Watering "here and there" is a little worrisome. To establish a plant well, you should give it infrequent, deep waterings. Assuming it was in at least a gallon container, up there in MA you could probably get away with a deep watering every month in the summer, for a newly planted holly. That would mean leaving a hose on trickle for at least a couple hours, maybe even 4, so that the ground surrounding the plant in completely moist. OK...if you have very fast draining sand, it might be a little more pragmatic to water less every 2 weeks. But most hollies are drought tolerant and you shouldn't need to do it more often than that.
A worker at Styer's in PA told me that a lot of people think spritzing the plant every day counts as 'watering' and that this accounted for a lot of their dead plant returns.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
you will probably be much further ahead ... in your quest for knowledge .. if you understand that all 'evergreens'.. are not the same ...

hollies are evergreen shrubs ... NOT conifers ... you posted in the conifer forum

hollies berry ... [not the actress]

conifers have cones ...

to produce berries.. a holly produces flowers ... no conifers have flowers ... per se .... MOST plants... to produce the fruit/flower need the most sun .... you can grow an apple tree in the shade of a tree .. but to produce optimum fruit/flowers .... you will need full sun ....

insufficient sun .. and the plant will produce an abundance of green leaves to survive ... at the expense of berry/flower production .... it is near impossible for us to understand how the sun affects your garden....

though very similar in growth culture .. they may not be the same as conifers .... and i dont grow them .. so i cant give you specific info ...

you might find a holly expert in the shrub forum ...

good luck....

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: try googling 'sun requiremnts for holly'

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