Possumhaw
It may have a funny name but Possumhaw (Ilex decidua) is a dazzling addition to the winter garden.
A deciduous holly, the dark green leaves turn bright yellow in the fall and shed before brilliant red-orange berries appear in November or December. The berries persist throughout winter. They seem to be unappetizing to birds but I read that birds like them after they have frozen and thawed. Possums too are said to like the berries, so maybe that is where the name comes in.
It may be a good thing if birds don't like to eat the Possumhaw berries because they do wonders to enhance a bleak grey garden. Only the female plants produce the berries and they must be pollinated. I only have one plant so I suspect that it is pollinated by Ilex opaca (American Holly) which reside on the opposide end of our property.
The berries of possumhaw are toxic if ingested in large quantities to both humans and animals. However, animals do not like the taste of the plant and they would probably not be interested in eating it.
Possumhaw can grow up to 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide. This makes me nervous as I planted this one in the perennial/shrub border where space is at a minimum. I've seen photos of them limbed up and resembling standards (they are often referred to as trees). I've had this one planted for at least three years and growth appears to be very slow.
They are easy to grow and prefer moist, acidic soil but they tolerate alkaline soils equally well. They are also tolerant of wet conditions. There are many varieties available. I want to say that this particular variety is "Warren's Red" but I'm not certain about that.
Comments
Jan
Always Growing
Thank you for sharing this. Please stop by my garden sometime.
I cut my bush back every year so it will 'fit' in the garden area that i've planted it in--otherwise it would grow taller & take over the area! You could always keep yours trimmed short if it suddenly has a growth spurt!!
I have a diciduous holly in the front garden that only gets 4' tall and it is gorgeous too. I have the male around the corner of the house. They get along quite well like this becasue the girls are full of berries. The mockingbird and cardinals fuss about who gets dibs on the berries in early spring. Otherwise the berries are untouched. Too bad I forget which variety it is.
Educational!
Cameron
Lisa, thanks for bringing this up. I went back and added that to my post. I had read that possums like them and I forgot to say that.
Marnie
Frances
This does have beautiful berries, and 20 by 10 is quite big!
Possumhaw reminds me of Pyracantha. Hate those thorns of Pyracantha though. My grand dog ate the Pyracantha berries one time. I panicked and called the poison control center. I told them my dog was having a fit to eat those berries.
They laughed and told me it makes animals drunk. Birds fly erratic and comical paths after dining on them. And my grand dog got drunk. She belched and passed gas in her drunken stupor. She slept for hours which is very unlike a puppy bird dog.
I like your possumhaw and its colorful addition.
Jon at Mississippi Garden
I couldn't find possumhaw here so last spring I bought one in Texas and trekked it back here. Unfortunately I managed to kill it by forgetting to water it during a rather dry and very hot time. That truly bummed me out! Maybe next year.
Because Elizabeth Lawrence talks of a completely different shrub called "Possumhaw Viburnum" I used that name to search. Google Books turned up a page in the Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico which says the name possum can mean false, and that possumhaw means they look like edible Haw viburnum.
But that doesn't answer the question of whether possumhaw HOLLY was named because it looked like the edible possumhaw viburnum.
(What a rattle of a comment! It's 33 degrees out and the wind is making me jittery. Looking up your lovely tree was a nice distraction!)
Annie at the Transplantable Rose