[VoodooChile]

POTW51 is a deciduous shrub well-known for lighting up the dingy Fall landscape with it's persistent fruit, as well as adorning countless "Happy Holidays" wreaths.

PM me with your guess. Answer posted at 20 shopping days til Christmas.

[VoodooChile]

Closeup of POTW51's berries.

[trees]

pm sent...

I asked Voodoo for a pic of the foliage since there are a couple things this really might be (both great, bullet-proof plants, by the way).

Just a description of the fall foliage would give it away, too...

[VoodooChile]

trees has a good point. The pictures aren't the best.

Still, notice how the berries in the photo are borne tightly along the stems. The other plant trees is thinking of has bright red berries as well, but they dangle at the end of visible stems.

I won't describe the Fall foliage yet, cause that would be a dead give-away and/or eliminate a plant in question.

Good Luck!

[Hamons]

PM sent -- Great 4 season plant. Actually prettier because it DOES NOT have leaves in the winter.

[VoodooChile]

trees says that POTW51 becomes a tree down his way. These are the largest I've encountered in southern Wisconsin, about 5' tall.

The deer browse POTW51's foliage into oblivion on the shores of Lake Geneva, but must have been like me and completely missed these when they were in leaf. After 4 months of working in this garden, I didn't notice POTW51 until yesterday!

[site]

I just planted two of these in my own yard last week. One of the best plants this time of year.

[trees]

They get 15' or more here. Although it's NOT native in these parts (you need to go 200 miles to Nashville in the Smoky Mtn. foothills to see it growing wild, or 100 miles North into KY) it does grow.

There's another species that's the southern extension of POTW51 that is omnipresent in the woods here and gets even bigger. Stunning in the winter, for sure!

[bcx400]

Great plant! When I have clients that request plants that will attract birds, this is at the top of the list. Grows in average soils as well as heavy clay and swamps. After several years, the plant tends to get a bit 'leggy' - cut them to the ground and they look great in several months.

[VoodooChile]

POTW 51 is Ilex verticillata or Winterberry Holly.

POTW51 was well-known to many, including: Lanelle, treedoc1, jwholden, prapoza, trees, Hamons, dan deutekom, site, Greensmith, bcx400, HRLand and rivergirl. Congratulations!

Winterberry only just crossed my radar screen, and I would be interested to hear what other attributes (besides its berries) earn this shrub so many fans...

[VoodooChile]

Oh yeah...

trees,
why don't you tell us a little about POTW51's kissing cousin, and the other plant you were thinking of, that is very similiar to POTW51.

[trees]

I. verticillata has a southern "cousin", I. decidua, or Possumhaw. I'm sure there is a lot of crossover between the two species' ranges, but they bloom at different times, so there's not a lot of natural cross-pollination. There is a hybrid available that goes by the common name Sparkleberry (pollinated by I. verticillata).

Possumhaw shares many of the same traits (in fact, it's not very easy to tell them apart save for bloom time), except it gets larger -- to 20' in these parts.

I like these plants for naturalized settings, but take exception to the 'persistant fruit' claim on the first post on this thread. Typically, the birds pick these things clean before christmas. Any berries that escape until late winter/early spring are gladly eaten by northward migrating Cedar Waxwings (excellent!).

Both species are practically bulletproof, meaning they will thrive in sun/shade and wet/dry soils.

The other plant that I thought this might be was Aronia arbutifolia, Chokeberry. This native plant is a lot more ornamental, IMHO. It gets approx. 8' tall x 6' wide, is typically multi-stemmed in habit, has great white blooms in the spring and KILLER red fall color (POTW51 is a sickly yellow/green often with fungal spots). The beautiful red fruit is not overly palatable to birds (as the common name suggests), so it typically persists through the winter, and hangs down on stems, not tight against the branches as POTW51. It is also tough as nails.

Both are great plants for woodland or naturalized settings, single or in mass. If you haven't tried them out... please do, you won't be dissappointed!

[VoodooChile]

I'm with trees on Red Chokeberry being a more ornamental plant, having a full four seasons of interest: Spring for profuse showy blooms, Summer for clean glossy drought resistant foliage, Fall for fire-red color, and Winter for persistent fruit.

Unfortunately, the deer decimate both round here, and only in protected locations, i.e. commercial plantings with plenty of people, or large gardens with plenty of pickings, will Winterberry and Chokeberry succeed in southern Wisconsin.

[Greensmith]

The winterberry is amazing around here right now because it stands out from the white snow. I have never really seen a good sized shrub of Chokeberry, I should make an effort to find one. I agree on the fall foliage of the Verticillata being pretty mundane.

[rivergirl]

Possumhaw grows great in Missouri. They get fairly tall. One I had planted grew to 14 feet in about 6 years. I planted a mass of them to screen the view of an unsitely area. I'll watch the one in town that is showing off it's berries right now to see how long they last- birds and all.