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Golden Milkmaid Holly
Ilex aquifolium 'Golden Milkmaid'
Height: 25 feet
Spread: 15 feet
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 6b
Description:
Abundant red winter fruit contrasts beautifully with gold variegated foliage; this older selection is a vigorous grower
Ornamental Features
Golden Milkmaid Holly is primarily grown for its highly ornamental fruit. It features an abundance of magnificent red berries in late fall. It has attractive gold foliage edged in dark green. The spiny pointy leaves are highly ornamental and remain gold throughout the winter.
Landscape Attributes
Golden Milkmaid Holly is a dense evergreen tree with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting birds and bees to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Golden Milkmaid Holly is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Accent
- Mass Planting
- Hedges/Screening
- Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
Planting & Growing
Golden Milkmaid Holly will grow to be about 25 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.
This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for rich, acidic soils. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets.
This plant is not reliably hardy in our region, and certain restrictions may apply; contact the store for more information.
![Hardiness Zone Hardiness Zone](/Content/Images/Icons/shz6.gif)
![Plant Height Plant Height](/Content/Images/Icons/smh-t2e.gif)
![Minimum Sunlight Minimum Sunlight](/Content/Images/Icons/sml-psha.gif)
![Soil pH Preference Soil pH Preference](/Content/Images/Icons/SSoil-Acid.gif)
![Accent Accent](/Content/Images/Icons/SAppl-Acce.gif)
![Massing Massing](/Content/Images/Icons/SAppl-Mass.gif)
![Screening Screening](/Content/Images/Icons/SAppl-Scre.gif)
![Naturalizing Naturalizing](/Content/Images/Icons/SAppl-Natu.gif)
![Fruit Fruit](/Content/Images/Icons/SAttr-Frui.gif)
![Foliage Color Foliage Color](/Content/Images/Icons/SAttr-Foco.gif)
![Winter Value Winter Value](/Content/Images/Icons/SAttr-Wint.gif)
![Attracts Wildlife Attracts Wildlife](/Content/Images/Icons/SAttr-Wild.gif)