How holly differs from other representatives of the flora, tips for caring for holly in indoor cultivation, independent reproduction, difficulties in cultivation, notes, species for rooms. Holly (Ilex) is often called Holly and is part of the Holly family (Aquifoliaceae). Representatives of this genus are found in many places on the planet (America, Asia and Europe), where tropical or moderate climatic conditions are present. There are up to 470 varieties in the genus of botanists.
The plant bears its scientific name due to the name of its "giant colleague" Stone Oak, which in Latin is called Quercus ilex. However, these samples of the green world are not "relatives".
All hollies take on the shape of trees, vines, or shrubs. They are distinguished by evergreen foliage that does not fall for the winter. While the plant is young, the young branches have a sharp point at the top, the leaves grow on them alternately, while they take on the form as a simple, elliptical, so they can have indented contours with thorns. It is for such outlines of the leathery shiny foliage that the plant is highly valued by lovers of garden and home crops. At the same time, the thorns are distinguished by their extraordinary sharpness and do not lose their properties, even when they have fallen off and dried. Therefore, any work with the plant is carried out with utmost care, wearing thick gloves. The color of the foliage is also impressive, it can take on dark green or two-tone shades - whitish-green, greenish-yellow or variegated.
When the holly blooms, completely nondescript flowers are formed, which can be seen in the leaf axils. The flowering process occurs in spring, while male and female buds grow on separate specimens. Therefore, if you want to admire the fruits that have subsequently ripened, then it is worth planting a male and female plant next to it.
Both the foliage and the fruits of the holly are highly decorative. They are called berries, which are actually drupes. The surface of such drupes is painted in shades of red, yellow, white, orange or black. Ripening of the fruits takes place in the autumn months, but they do not crumble with the arrival of winter, but decorate the holly with themselves further, almost until a wave of new flowering.
This plant does not have any special care requirements and is widely applicable for bonsai cultivation, as it has a rather slow growth rate. But if the owner makes a little effort, he will be able to get a worthy decoration of any room in the house, with a few caveats, about which below. Holly fits well into the interior of a veranda, terrace or glazed balcony. It is customary for holly to decorate the patio or install plant pots in the garden in the summer. It should only be borne in mind that holly looks most beneficial when the pot with it is placed at eye level so that households or guests of the house can see all the decorative beauty of the bonsai creator.
However, it should be borne in mind that if improperly molded in indoor conditions, holly can reach a height of up to two meters. If the conditions of detention are not violated, then the plant will delight the owners for more than a dozen years.
Planting and care of holly at room conditions
- Lighting and location. The plant prefers to grow in a sunny place, but it can tolerate partial shade. The location on the western and eastern windowsill is suitable, but if the variety has a variegated color of foliage, then a little more sun will be required.
- Content temperature. Holly does not tolerate heat, therefore, heat indicators in the rooms should be maintained around 21 degrees. In winter, it is necessary to reduce the temperature range to 10-15 units, but the thermometer should not fall below zero, otherwise the plant will stop growing.
- Air humidity. When growing holly in rooms, it is required to maintain high moisture levels in the air. To do this, spraying the deciduous mass in spring and summer is regularly performed, and this procedure is also recommended if it was not possible to create a cool winter for the plant and it remained in the room where heating devices and central heating batteries work. Water is used warm and soft.
- Watering. The main thing in indoor holly care is to prevent moisture stagnation in the pot holder, which can provoke rotting of the root system or complete drying of the earthen coma, which will lead to drying of the foliage. The soil should dry out in the upper part between humidifications. In the spring-summer watering should be abundant with the removal of the leaked water from the stand in 10-15 minutes, and with the arrival of winter, the moisture should be reduced. Well-settled warm water is used.
- Fertilizers for holly are introduced once a month, during the period from mid-spring to September. It is recommended to use complex mineral fertilizers.
- Transfer and selection of soil. The holly pot is changed every 2-3 years, while it is recommended to prune the root system. At the bottom of the new container, drainage must be provided, and in the bottom there are small holes for the drain of excess moisture. As a soil, you can use a commercially available universal soil, with the addition of river sand or perlite, as well as a small amount of crushed charcoal.
- General rules of care. If the plant has buds of the same sex, then keep the holly with female and male flowers nearby for successful pollination. Regular crown molding is required, but you should not forget about the thorns on the foliage.
Reproduction of holly with your own hands with home cultivation
Holly can be propagated by sowing seeds, cuttings or using layers.
Seed propagation is used occasionally, since the seeds do not have high germination rates. Also, stratification is needed before planting - placement for up to 2 months in cold conditions.
In the summer, you can cut blanks for planting from the tops of the shoots. Their length should be about 10 cm. The cut must be treated with phytohormone and transplanted into a peat-sandy substrate. The germination temperature is maintained within 18 degrees. The place where the pot with cuttings is placed should be shaded and after 3 months the cuttings may already take root. When young holly show signs of successful rooting, they are transplanted into containers filled with a selected substrate, and gradually begin to accustom them to sunlight.
When propagating with the help of layering, a branch is selected that can be bent to the soil surface and fixed there. You can carefully cut the bark in a circle before this. Then the shoot is pinned to the surface of the substrate with a hard wire or hairpin and sprinkled with soil. Then moisturizing is carefully carried out. Layering care should be the same as for an adult specimen. When root shoots appear at the incision site, the cuttings can be separated from the mother's holly and transplanted into a separate pot.
Diseases and pests arising from the cultivation of holly
Of the pests, when grown indoors, the plant can be affected by the whitefly, mealybug, scale insect or aphids. In this case, it is recommended to carry out the treatment with insecticidal preparations. Due to the frequent flooding of the substrate, especially at low growing temperatures, the plant is exposed to a variety of rot (accompanied by rotting of the roots or spotting on the foliage). Remove the bush from the pot, remove the affected areas with a pruner and apply a fungicide treatment, and then plant the holly in a new sterile container and substrate.
Problems with growing holly are also expressed in:
- shrinkage and shedding of foliage, which occur due to insufficient watering or with low humidity;
- poor plant appearance at too high temperatures;
- sunburn of leaf plates, if the plant is constantly in direct sunlight at noon, and especially if the foliage has a monochromatic color or the bush is still too young.
Curious notes about holly
Holly is known for its tonic and immune-supporting properties. Using the leaf plates and stem of the Ilex paraguariensis variety, which grows in large numbers in the vastness of South America, you can make a tea-like drink known to many as mate. But on the basis of the leaves of the Chinese holly (Ilex latifolia), or as it is also called the broad-leaved holly, the so-called "bitter tea" - kudin is made.
When the cold, rainy winter months come, since the holly was still in the culture of the Druids, and then the Celts, was a symbol of the sun, it is customary to decorate their homes with its shoots with leaves.
In ancient times, since quite sharp thorns are present on the leaves of the plant, which do not lose their sharpness even when dry, then with the help of bunches of holly in the era of Edward VII (from November 9, 1841, Buckingham Palace, London until May 6, 1910, the same place) it is customary to clean chimney pipes.
If we talk about the variety of Tea Holly (Ilex vomitjria), then it was used by the Indian tribes of North America because of its laxative or emetic properties, and the plant was also used as an antidote for religious rites or in medicines. On the basis of young leaf plates and twigs, these tribes made a tea-like drink, which was called "black tea".
To date, official medicine has recognized the plant's properties as antiseptic and cardiotonic, as well as anti-febrile. Remedies for colds, bronchitis are prepared from parts of holly, and they also cure fever and cough, they relieve the symptoms of arthritis, rheumatism and are applicable against dropsy.
Holly species for indoor cultivation
Of the many varieties of holly, only a few are suitable for indoor conditions, which are described below.
Holly (Ilex aquifolium) or Common holly. The variety is the most common of all in the family. The native growing areas are the north of the African continent, Europe and southwest Asia. It differs in a tree-like shape and non-falling foliage, it can reach 10–25 m in height and a trunk with a diameter of about 30–80 cm. The trunk is covered with a smooth bark of gray color. The crown is distinguished by its pyramidal or oblong outlines, with great density. The foliage has a wavy, winding edge with rather sharp notches. The shape of the leaf plate is oblong-ovate; it is attached to the branch with a short petiole. The length of the leaf ranges from 5–12 cm, with a width of 2–6 cm. Flowering occurs from late spring to June, with the formation of small bisexual flowers. Fruits are red, with a diameter of about 1 cm. Ripen from the beginning of autumn to the very end of winter.
Among the varieties, there are:
- Handsworth New Silver, Golden Kingc, on which the formation of female flowers is taking place, the foliage has a greenish-yellow color, the fruits are bright red.
- Amber is a bushy form, the fruits of which are shaded with orange color and feminine flowers.
- The Silver Queen is a male-flowered plant.
- Ferox Argentea is also a male-flowered cultivar with fairly small mottled foliage.
- J. C. van Tol, Pyramidalis varietal varieties that are self-pollinated can be both shrubs and trees. The leaf plates have a two-tone color of green-yellow leaves, practically devoid of thorns, berries of a red color. When the plants are young, their shoots are cast in a bright rich purple hue.
Calchis holly (Ilex colchica) has a shrub form with shoots creeping along the ground or looks like a tree with branches drooping down. The lands of Transcaucasia and Asia Minor are considered to be native areas. If the variety grows in the middle lane, then its size rarely exceeds 0.5 m. The surface of the leaf plate is leathery, the edge is decorated with scalloped cuts and an abundance of thorns. The color of the foliage is rich dark green, but the reverse side is lighter. Strongly incised veins are visible on the surface. The seeds in the fruit are smaller.
A characteristic feature of the variety is that in the winter months, having frozen to the snow cover, it can easily grow branches and deciduous mass from spring.
Narrow-fruited holly (Ilex stenocarpa) This species is relict and endemic to the western part of the Ciscaucasia. It has the shape of a shrub with evergreen foliage, reaching only half a meter in height. The outlines of the leaves are elliptical, the surface is rigid, the length of the leaf plate does not exceed 9 cm with an average width of 4 cm. Each side of the leaf is decorated with teeth, which number 3-5 units. During flowering, the formation of corymbose inflorescences in the form of umbrellas takes place, and several pieces can grow in each leaf sinus. Flowers of the same sex, after pollination, drupes ripen. The shape of the berries is rounded, the color of the surface is red. The flowering process falls in April-May.
This species is considered endangered, since its quantities are limited due to human impact (regular forest felling) and the special location of distribution sites. It is intended for protection, therefore, growing this plant, we can say that the process of preserving a rare representative of the flora is underway.
The crenate holly (Ilex crenata) or the serrated holly, originates from the lands of southern Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and Japanese territories. Usually it is a low tree, the maximum height of which is 7 m. Particularly decorative is its dense green deciduous mass, reminiscent of boxwood. It is cultivated in open ground in the Caucasus and Crimea, the growth rate does not differ and the plant has rather weak fruiting.
Basically, undersized varieties are highlighted:
- "Fastigiata" characterized by upright shoots;
- Convexa, has a more spreading bush shape.
Holly meserva (Ilex x meservae) is a hybrid plant obtained by crossing varieties of European common and Korean wrinkled holly. This plant is still quite new for gardeners in our latitudes, but when grown in open ground it can even withstand frosts in the Moscow region.
Among this variety, a number of varieties should be noted:
- Blue Maid, which has male and female flowers on the same plant, so a second copy is not required for pollination. Foliage with a simple green color scheme without any metallic sheen.
- Blue Angel also has female and male flowers, but differs due to the metallic sheen of the foliage in greater showiness.
- Golden Princess has unisexual flowers and yellow fruits.
- Blue Prince and Blue Princess also with flowers of the same sex, but the fruits are red and the leaves with a beautifully cut edge, the whole leaf plate is dark green, used as a decoration in Western Europe as a Christmas symbol.
