Ilex × meserveae (Castle Spire™) 'HECKENFEE®' blue holly, Meserve holly - female

Heckenfee® is a new variety of blue holly from Germany, bred by Hans Hachmann and patented only in 2000. It is a female variety of its male form Heckenstar. This means that this cross produces berries. Outside Europe it is distributed under trade name Castle Spire™.

Heckenfee® is a strictly upright growing, very hardy, evergreen shrub. The leaves are glossy, medium sized (4x2cm) and finely serrated – not prickly. Their colour is deep green, almost blue-green. Branches are violet. It needs a male pollinator to produce berries, such as Heckenstar® nebo Blue Prince®.

Meserveae hollies are called “blue hollies” thanks to the shade of the species leaves that are dark green with bluish tint. And the name meserveae was chosen for its cultivator, Kathleen Meserve, who, literally on her windowsill, made a cross of ilex rugosa and ilex aquifolium in 1950´s to achieve excellent cold hardiness on a fabulously foliaged evergreen plant. She died in 1999 at the age of 93 but left behind an impressive line of these evergreen superbly hardy varieties.

Blue hollies need almost no maintenance if you provide them with slightly acidic soil at the beginning and enough moisture for the first couple of years to enable establishing extensive root system. They are beautiful and trouble-free dense shrubs with no defoliated twigs even without pruning. They grow moderately fast and make dense foliage in the lower parts while they push new branches upwards. This feature is employed when using this holly into a hedge.

Another huge advantage is its above mentioned hardiness. It can stand very low temperatures without any damage. It was observed to have survived -26°C but can probably withstand -30°C.

Last update 12-01-2008.