Jim Dandy Winterberry

Every winterberry planting needs one male, and Jim Dandy is the one to pair with early-blooming females like Red Sprite and Afterglow. Ilex verticillata 'Jim Dandy' grows 5 to 7 feet tall and wide in full sun to part sun, hardy from Zone 3 through Zone 8.

This plant does not fruit. Winterberries are male or female, and only the females carry berries. The male's job is pollen, and a single Jim Dandy will pollinate up to five female plants within about fifty feet of it.

Bloom timing is what matters in the pairing. Jim Dandy flowers early, which lines it up with the early females. Late-blooming females such as Winter Red need a late male instead, so check what you are pairing before you buy.

Small greenish-white flowers open in late spring and draw bees. The foliage is glossy dark green through summer and drops in fall like any deciduous holly. Winterberry grows wild in swamps and wet woods, takes wet ground and ordinary garden soil alike, and wants acidic conditions. Site it anywhere within range of the females rather than in the display bed, since it is doing a job rather than putting on a show. Deer leave it alone.