Berry Heavy® Winterberry Holly (Ilex)

Sweet

Did I get a male and female? Very healthy on arrival

Too many mistakes by me and them.

Ten Berry Heavy Holly were delivered to my house about two weeks ago. The weather was too cold so the instructions said to keep them in the house. I did not see any instructions for indoor care, so I opened the plastic bags to let air in [which is not easy without very sharp pointed scissors]. I watered them immediately and then on the same schedule as my other house plants. A few days ago, I noticed some of thje leaves were browning on their edges and others were wilting. This was true of plants with both damp and dryer soil. I concluded that the plants needed to get out into the sun. Fortunately, the weather here near Chicago had warmed. After planting them, most seemed to perk up a little, but not all. The males did better than the females. The couple nights ago, the temperatture dropped to 34 degrees farenheit. All the plants lost most of their leaves. Online sources say hollies are vulnerable to stress, especially abrupt changes in temperature. The sources also said the plants will recover. We shall see. The point of this is that these plants should not be purchased for use in the Chicago area before May, and only when you are prepared to promptly plant them. Because of these misfortunes, I have no idea whether these Berry Heavy plants are good or not. If they recover sometime this year, I will praise them. Otherwise, I never will know.

The plants look great!