Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:36:17 -0500
From: Tom Glendinning
Subject: berries or no berries, that is the question
Yep! Us males are transient, no doubt.
American holly (Ilex opaca) pollinates in early spring when rain and freezing weather can cease production. The pollen has poor insect dispersal. Other hollies, cultivars (cultivated varieties), pollinate later and have more predictable yield. The males are around, but identifying them may take a year or more to see that they have no berries when the females do. That is unless you can sex the flower, er…, that is tell the difference between male and female flowers. It is said that a male may service the females within a quarter mile.
I don’t worry about the hollies. They do just fine. I get aroused when the Tulip Poplars, Liriodendron tulipifera, have sex.
Tom Glendinning