Norfolk Botanical Garden has approximately 1,450 plants in the genus Ilex representing 214 different species and cultivars. Holly trees and shrubs can be found throughout the Garden, but most of them are found in the Holly Garden or the Flowering Arboretum near the entrance of the World of Wonder: A Children’s Adventure Garden. The majority of the evergreen hollies can be found in the Holly Garden. These are divided into three sections featuring English, Japanese and American hollies. The Flowering Arboretum also includes three groupings of hollies: selected varieties of American Holly, deciduous hollies and hybrid hollies.
Hollies are dioecious, which means male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. Both sexes of flowers are needed to produce fruit. Holly berries appear on female plants. Examples of male and female plants can be found in the collection.
