Berry Heavy® Winterberry Holly

Enjoy a more fabulous landscape with help from the highly ornamental Berry Heavy® Winterberry (Ilex verticillata 'Spravy'). This is another great introduction from Proven Winners® and expertly grown by the team at Nature Hills.

You've coveted those pictures in the magazines every winter, haven't you? The ones where the designer has a vase of long branches covered in bright-red holly berries,sitting on the fireplace mantel. They can be expensive to order from a florist. Well, why not grow your own?

After all, Berry Heavy Winterberry Holly is so easy to grow in your own yard. It’s highly adaptable to climate and can handle some of the toughest design challenges, including partial shade and wet soils.

Ilex verticillata is a native to eastern North America where it is most often found in swamps and damp woods and along streams and ponds. Berry Heavy Winterberry is a select cultivar chosen for its abundant berry production and rounded structure.

It is a deciduous Holly, and will lose its serrated, glossy leaves in fall. The berries simply burst from the bare branches. It’s an enchanting sight!

You’ll adore this highly ornamental plant that brings such winter beauty to the landscape. Butterflies love the inconspicuous white flowers in the summer. They’ll develop into those heavy-laden berry branches in the fall and winter.

Don’t miss the show! Order your Berry Heavy Winterberry Holly (and Jim Dandy Winterberry as a pollination partner) from the expert growers at Nature Hills today.

How to Use Berry Heavy® Winterberry Holly in the Landscape

Berry Heavy features glossy, dark-green, pointed leaves during the spring and summer. The foliage fills in nicely all the way to the ground. This is a perfect background or fill plant. Use along the length of a fence, or create a natural summer hedge or screen.

For a solid screen, plant 3 feet apart on center. You’ll measure from the center of one to the center of the next.

Plant several in a loose triangle, with a Jim Dandy at one end of the planting. This makes a high contrast look against tall evergreen trees or beside a wall or fence.

Add this jaw-dropping show of berries in the fall and winter by incorporating several into a mixed border planting. Pair with Upright Red Chokeberry and Redosier Dogwood shrubs to really boost the wintertime appeal.

This is a great plant for erosion control along creek beds and sloping areas. They’ll even be perfect in a Rain Garden to help filter water runoff from roofs and streets before it flows into storm drains.

Birds love the berries, so get ready for lots of feathered visitors. Bring some branches inside for holiday décor before the birds enjoy them all. The berries will dry nicely on the branches and people will envy your Instagram-ready decorating.

#ProPlantTips for Care

Berry Heavy is a cinch to grow in your landscape. This is the perfect plant for naturalized landscapes because it requires very little maintenance to keep it looking its best.

You must grow a male pollinator, like Jim Dandy Winterberry in order to produce the amazing fall and winter display of brilliant red berries. Place the non-fruiting, dwarf male Jim Dandy near your Berry Heavy plants. A single Jim Dandy Holly is able to pollinate 5 to 7 Berry Heavy plants.

It needs a location in full sun or partial shade, and adapts well to any soil. This is a hardy, tough plant that, once established, will tolerate conditions that are not favorable to many other plants.

It even thrives in wet or boggy spots in your lawn. Go ahead and plant it in that poor draining location as this Holly will grow well as long as the pH of the soil is below 6.0.

Very little pruning is required to keep this plant looking its best. If shaping is required, prune in late winter when the danger of hard freezes have passed. Limit your pruning to removing selected limbs.

Severe or regular pruning will interfere with the fall berry production. Use a thoughtful approach and only take off what you really need to.

This plant prefers its roots to be cool and with constant moisture during the hotter part of the summer. Give Berry Heavy a generous layer of mulch between 3 to 4 inches spread out to 3 feet outside the canopy.

Water regularly. Fertilize with Dr. Earth Acid Lovers Acid Fertilizer in the late winter and mid-summer.

No serious diseases or pests are associated with this great landscape plant, so enjoy this carefree addition to your landscape. Order several from Nature Hills now, before they're gone!