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Winterberry Seedling main item image
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Winterberry Seedling

bare-root plants
Choose an item size to add to your cart.
$21.00
Item: 7609-A
stock details: 1–3' bare-root plants
$94.50
Item: 7609-B
stock details: 1–3' bare-root plants
Ilex verticillata

Also called Black Alder, Fever Bush, Possumhaw, Swamp Holly and more.

Best known for profusions of bright red ⅜" berries that stand out after the leaves fall—they keep their color all winter, spectacular against the snow. A staple of the Maine landscape, providing late-spring forage for birds. Lustrous deep green leaves retain their color long after they’re cut for decoration. Richly foliated, but open enough to display interesting branch structure. Tiny white flowers in mid-July attract pollinators. Deciduous suckering with clustered upright stems that can arch slightly. 

Tolerates dry conditions but prefers moist or wet acidic soil, even standing water. Sun or partial shade. No serious pests. Dioecious, requiring separate male and female plants for the female to produce fruit. These are unsexed seedlings—plant two or more to ensure berries.

 Native from Midwestern to eastern U.S. Zone 4.
ships in spring
Quick Details
Bloom Color
white
Pollinator Friendly
Yes
Hardy to Zone
4
Additional Information

Small Trees and Shrubs

As Green’s Nursery catalog from 1904 explains, “There are many trees that by pruning can be made to resemble shrubs, and many shrubs that by different pruning may be made to produce medium-sized trees.”

Winterberries Ilex verticillata

Also called Black Alder, Fever Bush, Possumhaw, Swamp Holly and more. Deciduous suckering medicinal holly with clusters of upright stems. Best known for profusions of bright red ⅜" berries which stand out after the leaves fall—they keep their color all winter, spectacular against the snow. A staple of the Maine landscape, providing late-spring forage for birds. Lustrous deep green leaves retain their color long after they’re cut for decoration. Richly foliated, but open enough to display interesting branch structure. Tiny white flowers in mid-July attract pollinators. Excellent fall wildlife forage plant. Leaves used for tea and tonic, astringent bark used in herbal medicine.

Tolerates dry conditions but prefers moist or wet acidic soil, even standing water. Sun or partial shade. No serious pests or diseases. Male and female plants required for fruit, which is produced on female plants. Plant males within 30' of females. Native from midwestern to eastern U.S.

Shipping

Items from our perennial plants warehouse ship from early March through mid-to-late May, weather depending, beginning with warmer USDA zones.