My mother recently ordered plants through the mail and all the catalog says is that they are called Winter Wonder Plants and their berries attract songbirds in the winter. Nothing about their growth (other than they are hedge), type of soil or sun needed. They come in male and female. The description does say "snowtime color-bursts of flowers, foliage and flame red berries". No info came with the plants either. I have tried to call the company, but have not been successful in getting through. I am going to keep trying. In the meantime, does anyone know what this plant is, perhaps a Latin name and what type of care it needs?

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), April 27, 2000

Answers

My first thought as I was reading your post was "here comes high-bush cranberries again", but not if there are male and female plants. I just hate it when companies make up names for things. They really should give the scientific name. Usually these fancy names are attached to plain old something, people just think they're getting something different. I've double-checked my usual list of suspects, but none of them are seperate male and female types. I hope someone else knows what these actually are. In the meantime, just stick them in the ground and keep them watered. Probably something widely adapted and pretty hardy. Good luck with them. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), April 27, 2000.

they sound like some type of holly,there are many types that do not have leaves in the winter,the common name is winter berry. the latin name is verticilate- sp? they have yellow ,white, and red berry types. some do require both male and female. do they have leaves now? what color is the bark ? they require full sun to part shade but the growth habit is not realy hedge unless prunned. what part of the country are you in ?

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), April 27, 2000.

I thought about holly too, but they don't have a hard waxy leaf like the hollys I know. The leaf is dark green, soft, long, serrated and pointed. There is no bark to speak of right now since the plants came as only about 1-2" high. I live in NE IN.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), April 27, 2000.

ok after talking to some friends who have a native nursery they say how about currents , they are both female and male. just a thought!!

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), April 28, 2000.

So I finally got a hold of the company via email. You know what they told me? "I don't know what it is." Ask me if I will ever order anything from them.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), April 29, 2000.

Thank you everyone for your answers. I believe I have the plant pegged. My mother neglected to tell me the plants had plastic bags around them and I happened to find one. It had "winterberry" written on it. I looked it up in a plant book and it leaves look like the "Possumhaw holly".

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), April 30, 2000.

R, I looked up Ilex decidua, Possum Haw and it sounds like a nice plant if it is hardy in your area. Hope your mother didn't order it from a "real" nursery if they couldn't help you identify it. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 03, 2000.