Ilex verticillata x serrata 'Sparkleberry'

Ilex 'Sparkleberry' is the aristocrat of the winterberries, a vigorous hybrid holly bred from the native winterberry, Ilex verticillata, and the Japanese winterberry, Ilex serrata, and introduced by the U.S. National Arboretum. The cross brought hybrid vigor and a heavier, longer-holding crop: tall, upright stems that shed their leaves in fall and blaze with bright red fruit, persisting so well that the berries often hang on into spring.

That performance has made 'Sparkleberry' one of the most celebrated deciduous hollies in cultivation, an award-winning selection grown for the sheer quantity and staying power of the fruit. A mature plant reaches ten to twelve feet, upright and eventually a little leggy at the base, which is a feature rather than a flaw: the bare lower stems lift the berry display to eye level and above, and lower plants can be set in front to hide the ankles.

Winterberry is a deciduous holly of eastern North American wetlands, and the Japanese parent brings extra vigor, but the family rules still hold: only female plants fruit, and only with a compatible male blooming nearby. 'Sparkleberry' is pollinized by a male of the same parentage, 'Apollo' or 'Raritan Chief', set within about fifty feet; the long-blooming 'Raritan Chief' is an especially reliable partner.

Give 'Sparkleberry' the moist to wet, acidic soil winterberry loves, in full sun to part shade, and let the tall shrub command a rain garden, a pond edge, a wet swale, or the back of a border, spectacular through the winter and feeding birds into spring. The long-lasting cut branches are prized for holiday arrangements, and a group planted with one male carries a dependable, long-running show.