Holly With No Berries

[cecil39]

I have a nice variegated holly that I planted about six years ago, about 4ft high and a green one a bit younger, how old are they before they have berries please?
there are a lot of hollies about the village, some with a lot of berries some with none.

[carolegif]

My holly had lovely berries in September, now the blackbirds have eaten them all!!!!!

[EcclesCake]

Do you know if they are hermaphroditic or if they are male female?

It will make affect the berry development.

[Tilly2]

Same here carole, along with the Pyracantha berries.

[EcclesCake]

You win a tenner if you can fathom what my appalling editing turned that post into!

In short, you may have to shrubs of the same sex which will not result in berries, or you may have a recalcitrant hermaphrodite.

Can you check which varieties you have?

[Maydup]

Maybe never cecil, some are self fertile others need pollinating.

Eccles understands even if we don't!

[cecil39]

I have no idea what sort they are as they came from a car boot sale and the seller did not know, I thought they might be to young to berry, they did both have flowers, and with others nearby I had hoped they would be pollinated, so I will just have to wait and see I suppose, at least they are nice to look at, thanks for your answers

[Chipchopper]

This is my take on it.
If the holly is a male clone ie, a cutting taken from a male plant, it is unlikely to bare any berries.

If however it's a female clone you have then, after 6 years, I would expect that you may see some berries in the not too far off future.

If the hollies have been grown from berries them I'd say it's about a 50/50% chance of what sex they are.

[boxtops]

If you've had flowers, there is every chance of berries in future years, but the flowers have to be pollinated. The bees do ours.

[askyourgran]

My neighbour has a variegated holly with no berries so far, about 5 years old. Isn't it supposed to be a sign of a mild winter when there are fewer berries?

[woofgang]

male hollies have flowers too...that's where the pollen comes from to pollinate the female flowers on the female holly!!

http://landscaping.about.com/od/helpforbeginners/f/holly_flowers.htm

JC van Tol is the commonest bisexual self fertile holly It had darj green leaves with few prickles
Silver queen is a very pretty variegated MALE holly and Golden King is a variegated FEMALE holly, go figure. Most hollies are not self fertile and even if you have a female, you will need a nearby flowering male.

[cecil39]

sounds like I will have to buy a "golden king" then wolfgang, thanks again everyone.

[Tilly2]

My holly bush planted itself. I didn't put it in. It is smothered in berries. It's a funny holly. It doesn't have prickles. I use it to make my Christmas door wreath every year.

[woofgang]

Tilly, i bet that is JC van Tol
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.welsh-holly.co.uk/images/jcvantolberries500.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.welsh-holly.co.uk/vantolhollies.htm&;h=375&w=500&sz=38&tbnid=Z28i2eIcltgwcM:&;tbnh=95&tbnw=126&zoom=1&usg=__BiyX8LzN_mvjoS0wiMtbk1YHFSI=&docid=Fa0vsGbqa5s2bM&sa=X&ei=2PegUui4EsmnhAfU5YGQDA&ved=0CG4Q9QEwBQ