Educate Yourself About the Winterberry and Other Bird Attracting Holly's
Winterberry
Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) will produce beautiful red berries that hang from its stems, in late fall or early winter. This deciduous holly will provide food for at least 12 different bird species, including the Brown Thrashers. Placing bird feeding tables or hanging tubular bird feeders in or next to the Winterberry, will provide much extra needed food for the birds to stay alive during long cold winter nights.
It will do best in full to half sun, and likes slightly acidic, rich, wet soil. The Winterberry can grow up to “between” 5-15ft (1.5-4.5m), and will have a spread of around 15-26ft (4.5-8m). An alternative is the Inkberry (I. glabra), and it will grow great in both sun and shade. It likes dry to moist acidic, sandy, well-drained soil, but have in mind that this shrub need male and female plants to produce berries.
