Winter Red Winterberry
Ilex verticillata 'Winter Red'

Foliage: Dark green
Fall Foliage:  Little, but not significant
Fruit:  Bright red 
Habit/Form: Rounded
​Uses: Hedges, shrub borders, wetland areas (no sitting water)

Zone Hardiness:  4- 9
Plant Height:  6 - 8  ft
Plant Width: 6 - 8 ft 
Light: Sun/part shade
​Growth Rate: Slow

'Winter Red’ is a female winterberry cultivar that typically matures to 6-8’ tall. Among winterberry cultivars, it is noted for heavy fruiting, bright red fruit color and good retention of the bright fruit color throughout winter. It is a slow-growing, deciduous, suckering shrub with an upright rounded habit. Lustrous dark green leaves. Relatively inconspicuous whitish flowers appear in the leaf axils in late spring. Flowers, if properly pollinated with Ilex 'Southern Gentlemen', give way to a profuse crop of bright red berries. Berries provide considerable impact and interest to the winter landscape. This species grows commonly in swamps, wetlands, damp wood edges, along the edges of ponds and streams and in roadside ditches throughout New Hampshire. Prune to shape in early spring just before new growth appears. It attracts birds and is tolerant to erosion, clay soil, wet soil and air pollution.
​