only green berries on my holly tree every year

hi. i have had a I. aquifolium silver queen holly tree for 18 years. its covered in green berries every year but if im lucky i only get about 6 or 7 red berries on one branch each year. ( just enough for Xmas decor) i would like more berries do i need to buy a female holly tree to fertilise my male tree assuming mine is male and how close to each other would it need to be please? thankyou

 

If its male it wont have berries, only females have berries and I do know there is some confusion regarding the naming of some hollies, ie, kings being female and queens being male

Not sure if there are any that bear male and female flowers though.

This says its male
Ilex aquifolium 'Silver Queen' (m/v) | holly 'Silver Queen'/RHS Gardening

 

This image in this link suggests it's bisexual, or confused, or non-binary/linear or whatever ...

Ilex aquifolium 'Silver Queen' - Holly - Tree Shrub - Majestic Trees

 

Well, I'm thinking it cannot be totally male if some berries are forming, but guessing that a proper female variety would produce a much better show of berries.

It says it is a male clone that does not produce berries and them puts up a pic with berries.

 

Human sexuality is confusing enough for some these days without Hollies joining in.

I've got 4 Hollies in my garden, 3 females + 1 male, and the biggest threat to red berries are Blackbirds, but especially Mistle Thrushes who strip the trees. If there's any red berries left come Xmas to make wreaths from, Blackbirds strip the berries off whilst the wreath is on our front door, which is rather scary to watch through our door viewer.

A tenant of an adjoining plot had 2 Hollies, a medium size female that was netted to protect berries, and a real runt of a male tree beside it. After the runt male died there were no more berries.

 

Which just goes to prove that males do have some uses ...

I found it quite confusing when I worked at the nursery, as I found it easy to get the vareties mixed up ( I was easily confused even back then) Maybe it is possible that your ''silver queen'' @crocus is actually mis labelled, maybe it is Argentea marginata - which is a female.
A favourite idea is to perhaps find a holly which is self fertile - like JC vanTol
By the way, I would suggest pruning hollies every spring without fail to keep them producing well and looking good. A light prune seems to suit them better than having to do a major chop...I have learnt this from experience, as I planted a holly 'break' some years ago - neglected the pruning for a year or so, and now they are big trees which I don`t have the energy to deal with

 

We prune ours a week or so before Xmas to keep our house looking nice and Christmassy every year. If your needs aren't sufficient, supply your neighbours/friends/village wreath makers with berry laden branches.

 

I gave up on holly a few years ago, just got fed up with so many dead prickly leaves hanging around.

 

thankyou so much for your input, i love the humorous comments on this lovely site. i still feel a bit confused, its never had a prune so maybe i cold scare it into turning its numerous green berries red.

 

Just a thought. If your Holly is in fact a female one which has been misnamed, it will need a male companion for fertilisation purposes. It's not the female that does the fertilising! ,......

 

thanx think i will need to make sure weather its a male or female

 

If it has berries it is female, possibly argentia marginata as I mentioned before.

 

@crocus , see if you can Google Ilex meserveae blue prince, it is a good pollinator - a nice bluey green variety.

 

Just had a look at Coblands website. They have a picture of "silver queen" with berries, in their description they state plainly that it's male and bears no berries. .... this is what I mean by confusion

 

I agree with Pete (again).

I still agree with Pete.


Male fish can produce live young, Hens can turn into Cockerels and just check out the 'problem pages' to see what Humans get up to.