How to tell if its a male or female Holly Bush?
Great question, as it’s the female holly that has the berries, but needs a male holly for pollination and they need to be within a bee’s flying distance. The only way to tell is to look at their flowers, and bring back a few terms we learned in our botany classes in high school. All Holly flowers have four (sometimes 5) white petals. The male flower has four prominent stamens each having a stalk that supports an anther. The anthers have the sticky pollen on them. But here’s the ‘tell tale’ of the male flowers – look in the center of the flower. The ovary is very small or not there, and the center looks hollow. Now, look at the female holly flower. Four white petals and they even have the four stamens like the male flowers, although they don’t produce pollen. But, look at the center of the female flower. You’ll find a prominent pistil made up of a stigma, style, and a very large green ovary. Males have no green ovary in the center of the flower and females have a large green ovary in th
