Budding Holly

Maybe I'm just NOT a green thumb like my Mom, or maybe I'm guilty of not doing enough research on my choices in landscaping, but a mystery was solved this past week either way......When I bought my house, there was basically no landscaping in the front of the house. After moving in and getting settled, I tackled the 'lack of foliage' in the front.

I hired a landscaping company (Pedro) to put in a mini retaining wall (edgers), mulch and some hedges/bushes. I picked out mainly Buford Holly as the big plants, with the idea that when they grew tall and wide enough, I'll trim them to be a squared-off hedge. Great.

Well, they were tiny at first, and now a year and a half later, they are a little bigger (but not as big as I had thought they would be at this point......but they don't get much sun, so.....). At any rate, I did see lots of new growth - they got taller and lots of new leaves developed before my eyes.

But there were a few of them that had these little 'knobs' on them and I thought they were the 'buds' or beginnings of leaves. I tried to water them extra, thinking they just didn't have enough water to fully develop. After months of frustration, the leaves never formed.......

Fast forward to late November:

DUH - am I really that dense?! I bought HOLLIES. They were the holly berries, just waiting patiently for winter so they could turn red and be pretty for Christmas!!

Now I feel much better about my watering skills - they weren't stunted leaves, but the pretty fruit that my foliage shows off in winter!