Garden plant: holly

Holly - ilex aquifolium, I assume

This is the first post in an ambitious attempt to survey my garden, plant by plant. It may take a while and I'll be including weeds.

Taking a logical approach, I'm starting in one corner of the garden, with a holly tree. It's 3-4 metres high (10-14 ft) and I've already lopped the top off it once. The only reason it's been cut down down further is that it provides a partial screen from the neighbour's garden. As other shrubs grow up, that role is diminishing and I expect to be able to cut it down to just a metre or so next year.

New growth, with the reddy tinge

As with so many plants, the common name applies to a wide variety of species. Wikipedia tells me there are between 400 and 600 species of holly. Which one have I got?

My holly has the spikey leaf shape we associate with holly, and the leaves are a dark, waxy green. New growth is even darker, with a deep reddy tinge to the leaf edges. It produces small white flowers in the spring but no berries. Not having berries suggests that it's a male plant.

Probably my plant is an example of ilex aquifolium, or common holly. But with the hundreds of varieties out there, it could be something else. I'm not sure how I'd find out, nor is it particularly important for me to know.

It's relatively fast growing and, when cut back, sprouts new growth from the trunk or branches. Currently a tree, I'm probably going to reduce it to a low bush.

Over the last few years I've come across several new holly plants growing in the garden, which I assume have seeded from this tree. However, given that you need a male and female holly tree to create seed, I'm not sure how this is happening. I'm not aware of a female (fruiting) holly nearby.

Young holly plant

I have dug up and potted some of these young holly plants, for possible future use in the garden as hedging.