Common winterberry is a deciduous North American holly shrub, usually grown for its bright red winter berries. Plant male and female shrubs together, since berries only form on females near a pollinating male.
Family
Aquifoliaceae (Aquifoli family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep soil consistently moist, especially in the first season; it tolerates wet sites.
Soil
Moist, acidic, humus-rich soil; tolerates wet ground and poor soils.
Temperature
Hardy to about -35 °C; tolerates cold winters well.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Mildly toxic: Berries and other plant parts can cause stomach upset if eaten in quantity.
Native range
E. Canada to C. & E. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate
About
Ilex verticillata, the winterberry, is a species of holly native to eastern North America in the United States and southeast Canada, from Newfoundland west to Ontario and Minnesota, and south to Alabama.
Other names that have been used include black alder, Canada holly, coralberry, fever bush, Michigan holly, or winterberry holly.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ilex verticillata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.