Milan Havlis - gardening

The species of common holly is one of the tallest evergreen plants available in zone 6. It has 5-7 cm long, dark green, alternate leaves, very glossy, and with sharp thorns along the edges. Tiny flowers appear at the end of spring and are followed by vivid red berries in the autumn, so typica ...

Alaska Cream is another holly with coloured foliage. It was found as a natural mutation of Yellow Star variety in German town Wiesmoor in 1992. The leaves are deep green in the centre and have rich creamy yellow, sharply toothed margins. Some leaves are entirely yellow. Young br ...

This holly was given the name Alaska as it is the hardiest holly of all. From our experience we know that it is not only heavy frost hardy, but it can also stand up to direct sunlight in winter without any signs of sunburn. Well done! The medium-sized leaves are emerald gree ...

Argenteomarginata is an attractive varigated holly which looks great in every garden. It enhances every evergreen composition, and lightens up shady corners. The shape and size of the leaves are the same as on the common holly, and they have creamy margins along the sharp, tooth ...

This holly is a fantastic delicacy for collectors. A sport of another variety called Ferox has rich, creamy white margins, hence the name Ferox Argentea. Argentea in Latin means silver and Ferox means dangerous. Both describes features of the evergreen leaves, firstly its ...

Harpune is another novelty among English hollies. It is a mutation of another variety called Alaska. The main difference is in the leaves which are not spiny along the margins, but only have a medium sharp tip. They are narrowly elliptic, mid to dark green and very glossy. Harpu ...

J.C.van Tol variety, more than any other holly, is known for making almost spineless leaves when the plant reaches a height of abt. 1m. They are glossy, deep green to olive green on the undersides. It is a female veriety bearing showy, bright red berries that appear abundant ...

“Madame Briot” is a female holly with golden-yellow variegated leaf margins. Obovate leaves are spiny, 3-4 cm long. The interesting issue in the holly are branches which are bright to deep purple making an extraordinary background for coloured leaves. Fruits are scarlet red berries and a ...

Some hollies are not sought-after for their colourful fruits because they have other features to highlight your garden with. This myrtle-leaved holly is a quite rare, male cultivar of common holly. It has deep green, narrow, highly glossy leaves that are regularly spiny along the edges. The habit is ...

Pyramidalis is a popular female variety, mainly in Germany where it freely grows in parks and cities. It makes a beautiful and dense shrub of broadly pyramidal habit, well branched from the base. It has deep green, glossy leaves that are almost spineless. It is self-fertile so it bears profusion of ...

Rubricaulis Aurea is supposed to be the hardiest holly from the aquifolium group with varigated foliage. The leaves are deep green in the centre with rich yellow, spiny margins which turn pink in cold months. It is a female variety which bears red fruits in the autumn. To do ...

Silver Queen, unlike its female name, is a male version of English holly. It has deep green, glossy leaves with attractive, creamy-white margins. Stems of new branches are purple. As a male it is ideal for pollination of female varieties that bear coloured berries in autumn and ...

White Cream® is a fantastic new variety of holly. It was bred in Germany by Ingo Stührenberg. White Cream® is a natural mutation of another English holly called Myrtifolia, hence its spiny margins. The leaves are bright creamy white in the centres, changing through light ...

Leaves of this chinese holly with their 3 lobes look like sugar coated, they are very glossy. The flowers will produce a load of bright red berries which will bring the ideal Christmas feeling in the winter. It prefers moist, acidic soil but is quite adaptable. Once established, it tolerates summe ...

Convexa is a variety of Japanese box-leaved holly which is most popular with bonsai growers and is ideal for topiaries. Compared to the species it grows denser and more compact so when pruned or clipped it never leaves an empty hole. The very glossy leaves are mid to dark green, 1-2 cm long, they ar ...

One of the best groundcovering evergreen shrubs is undoubtedly this holly which has both European origin and name. “Eurotal” is a low, dense shrub with dark green, glossy leaves similar to box. It is superb for evergreen groupings as well as a stand-alone specimen in small front gardens. ...

This holly is a popular variety for Japanese bonsai. It has dark green, glossy leaves similar to box. This cultivar has upright habit without pruning and is rather slim. It is very popular for evergreen groups with spreading or groundcovering shrubs, for patios or front gardens. Fruits are small, gl ...

Golden Gem variety is a low, dense shrub with bright golden-yellow top leaves, leaving the bottom ones dark green. This bicolour effect is very elegant. Leaves are small and glossy, gently serrated at margins. Fruits, if any, are small, glossy black berries in autumn. Pruning is possi ...

One of the most elegant evergreen shrubs is undoubtedly this Japanese holly. It has leaves similar to boxwood and is often used as its substitute. Golden Rock® is a recent introduction from German town Wiesmoor, where Uwe Renken found it in 2000 as a natural mutation of anot ...

Green Lustre is a fantastic variety of Japanese box-leaved holly. This carefree shrub has deep green, glossy, almost flat, healthy leaves. It is low growing, mound-forming, and if you grow several plants together in a few years they will join into one cover of green mounds. It i ...

Japanese box-leaved holly is superb carefree shrub suitable for evergreen groupings as well as a stand-alone specimen in small front gardens. Its leaves are similar to English box, but larger: Latifolia variety has the largest leaves of all crenata hollies. They are 3-4 cm long, ...

Nellie R. Stevens is one of the most widely used hardy hollies worldwide, and at the same time one of the most beautiful. It is a cross between English holly ilex aquifolium and Chinese holly ilex cornuta. It grows relatively fast and can be trained into a gorgeous ...

Camelliifolia is a beautiful and robust plant that is not very new worldwide but has not yet been in wide cultivation in Europe. Which is a pity. It is an elegant and densely leaved, evergreen holly with entire, mostly spineless, elliptic, camellia-like leaves with a hard tip. T ...

Golden King holly is a beautiful and easy to grow shrub with almost spineless leaves. They are oval to rounded, deep green in the centre and richly varigated yellow at the margins. The colder the weather, the deeper yellow margins. Golden King name, however, is a sort of a screw-up: this p ...

Lawsoniana is my favourite. It is a female, variegated version of male plant Hendersonii which is just green. The leaves of Lawsoniana are deep green at the margins, grading through light green towards bright yellow centres. They are curled which gives the plant an extraordinary appear ...

Wilsonii is a rare variety of Highclare holly. It bears 5-7 cm long, oval to oblong, deep green and very glossy leaves. They are mildly spiny when young and lose spines as the plant grows taller than 1m, then new leaves become mostly entire with just one sharp tip. It is a femal ...

Blue Angel ® is a favourite female variety of blue hollies. It flowers abundantly in the spring and fruits are born in the autumn. They are bright red, shiny berries that remain on the plant until early to mid spring. It needs a male pollinator e.g. Blue Prince®. Leaves ...

Blue Bunny is a nice newcomer among blue hollies from Canada. It is a brother (male variety) of Golden Girl which is a female version with yellow berries. Blue Bunny is a perfect pollinator for all female varieties of b ...

Blue Prince® is probably the most popular variety of all so-called blue hollies. It is a male plant that does not produce fruits but is a pollinator for female plants of this group (e.g. Blue Princess). On the other hand, it grows faster than female varieties and has larger, ...

Blue Princess is probably the most popular female variety of blue hollies. It flowers abundantly in the spring and fruits are born in the autumn. They are bright red, shiny berries that remain on the plant until early to mid spring. To produce fruits it needs a male pollinator ...

German town Wiesmoor gave birth to another beautiful blue holly called Blue Seedling. In the fields with Blue Prince and Blue Princess naturally occurred a selection having the best of both of those. Leaves of this novelty are very glossy, deep green, medium sized, oval to r ...

We are always happy to hear about any success as far as increasing plants hardiness. And when it happens and a new plant variety is hardy and at the same time beautiful we are lost for words. Casanova® is the one that left us speechless. It is a brand new variety that was only in 2 ...

Goldader is a holly with glossy leaves with attractive variegation. They are deep green at the margins, grading through soft green to rich yellow in the centre. Each leaf is unique, like a painter’s original. They look similar to the aquifolium species but are narrower and ...

Golden Prince is a fantastic novelty whose origin we have not located yet. It is a variegated form of a blue holly, closely related to Blue Prince®. It has the same leaf shape, size, and habit. Leaves are glossy, toothed but not spiny, golden yellow at margins and both light ...

Blue Maid ® is a female variety of blue hollies. It flowers abundantly in the spring and fruits are born in the autumn. They are bright red, shiny berries that remain on the plant until early to mid spring. It needs a male pollinator e.g. Blue Prince ®. Leaves are very glossy, with a distinc ...

Heckenstar® is quite a novelty from Germany, bred by Hans Hachmann and patented only in 1998. It is a cross ilex aquifolium „Pyramidalis“ and ilex x meserveae R ...

GOLDEN GIRL ® is probably the first ever patented holly with yellow berries in the world, US plant patent 7652 from 1990, as a cross between ilex aquifolium ´Fructa Lutea´and ilex rugosa . Yellow fruits are an awesome feature because it never happened with any other blue hol ...

Heckenfee® is a new variety of blue holly from Germany, bred by Hans Hachmann and patented only in 2000. It is a female variety of its male form Heckenstar. This means that this cross produces berries. Outside Europe it is distributed under trade name Castle Spire™. ...