HAVE: Seeds from heirloom 6' tall bush w/ lovely, shiny, small green leaves. In Spring, it gets tiny pink/white flowers shaped like teacups. And in Autumn, it has purplish-blue berries. As I am unable to identify the bush, I believe them to be NON-EDIBLE. The leaves turn a lovely shade of pinky-peachy-gold in Autumn. Pictures are on this website, which is not mine: http://ramblinganne.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html Not sure if this is what you're looking for, and they're probably not edible. Am mostly interested in flowers, mostly perennial. Let me know if you're interested in a trade. Thanks.

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

Sorbus alnifolia, Korean Mountain Ash, small tree Ilex pedunculosa Longstalk hollies, evergreen Stranvaesia davidiana if you can stand the smell of the flowers. Evergreen as well Crataegus viridis 'Winter King' another tree Crataegus phaenopyrum Washington Hawthorn, tree again Since I cheated and mentioned some trees, might as well add Crabapples. Ilex x meserve blue hollies, I like Blue Princess Add Playboy to the rose list Rosa Rugosa Rosa glauca Rosa moyesii Viburnum setigerum tea viburnum Ilex verticulata Wintergold for another color barberries, black stems with red berries but invasive here Ilex glabra, dark and white berried forms Ilex serrata x verticillata and various other forms of ilex if hardy in your area And a word about Symplocus paniculata - sapphire berry, they don't hold their berries long in the fall but they are a bright blue.

It's hard for me to do the math in my mind and picture how thickly your trees and shrubs will be, but from my experience, it will be easiest to maintain if you put down newspapers, several sheets thick and then a few inches of mulch over that to keep the weeds down. If you call around, you might be able to find free mulch. I got a huge load delivered free to my house from a tree service company. It's not as nice as the stuff you buy but the price was right and I got it in the winter so it was free of leaves which makes it break down more slowly. Or your city may have a recycling facility with free or cheap mulch. I agree with Mosswitch. I'd put it right over the grass instead of trying to dig it all up. I'm not familiar with Maryland's climate but you may need to water them the first year or two when it's dry. I am quite jealous that you got all those for free! Wow! Sounds like you're going to have lots of berries/seeds for song birds. Spicebush is a host plant for Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies and Sweetbay Magnolia is a host plant for Tiger Swallowtails. Nice bonus.