Being Fruity isn’t always a Bad Thing

Looking good in its full fruit mode in mid January is the holly, Ilex ‘Emily Brunner’. This hybrid of Ilex cornuta and Ilex latifolia has proven to be one of the best specimen hollies we grow. A mature specimen is 20′ tall x 20′ wide, so if you’re planting this, give it enough space. Years ago, a University of Tennessee student first showed this as a seedling to the late nurseryman, Don Shadow, who immediately realized its value, and named it for the student. This is a female holly, so it needs a male nearby to produce fruit. We’re guessing ours is fertilized by a nearby hedge of Ilex ‘Nellie R. Stevens’. Despite all the fruit, I don’t ever recall seeing a single garden seedling.

Ilex ‘Emily Brunner’

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