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    • Winter Veggie Gardening
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    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
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    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
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    • Delphiniums
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    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
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    • Fall Asters
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    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
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    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
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    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
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Oregon Grape Holly and Family

September's Plant of the Month 2022

A Plant for All Seasons

creeping mahonia repens
Creeping mahonia flowers in spring along with tulips and daffodils.
Oregon grape holly
During the winter months, Oregon grape hollies are stars of the garden.
Mahonia aquifolium
Slightly fragrant bright yellow flowers are packed together.
Charity Mahonia
To increase bushiness, cut back stems by 1/4 after flowering.
creeping mahonia
Creeping mahonia have modest but colourful flower clusters.
Picture
'Charity' in January.
Oregon grape holly berries
Fruit from a Charity mahonia resemble grape clusters.
Picture
At Dart's Hill, Surrey, BC., mahonias are left to naturalize as nature intended.
Picture
Their holly-like foliage have sharp spikes along leaf margins.
Picture
A Bealei mahonia (M. japonica) flowers in February, VanDusen Botanical Gardens. Click on the pic for more.
Picture
Foliage tends to turn red and purple in full sun.
Common Name:  Oregon Grape Holly
Botanical Name:  Mahonia aquifolium
Form:    upright, broad, spreading
Family:  Berberidaceae
Genus:  Mahonia
Species:  aquifolium
Plant Type: broadleaf evergreen shrubs
Mature Size:  3ft to 10ft x 5’
Growth: medium
Origin:  North & Central America, Asia, Himalayas
Hardiness Zone: 5 to 9
Foliage:  dark green to bronze, turn purple in winter in direct sun, 6x 2.5 cm, pinnately compound, lobed with sharp spine at lobe tips, stiff, leather-like
Flowers: clusters (racemes) of fragrant yellow trumpet shaped flowers with 6 yelllow petals surrounded by 6 yellow sepals.  
Fruit: hanging clusters of blue edible berries
Exposure:  prefers shade to partial shade, but tolerates sun
Soil:  prefers moist, well-draining, acid soil, tolerates most soils, including wet ones
Uses:  screen, fillers, shade gardens, mixed borders, privacy hedge, attracts birds and butterflies
Propagation:   cuttings in summer into autumn
Pruning:  not necessary, but if needed do so in spring once the danger of frost has passed
​Problems:  rust and powdery mildew but it’s not common
Comments: 
Oregon grape hollies are used extensively by municipalities, landscapers and developers because of their versatility, toughness, winter interest, soil and shade tolerance and low maintenance. However, they are not as popular with maintenance crews because the spines on their holly-like foliage, which makes them painful to touch and to prune. Mahonia grape holly is also indigenous to the Pacific Northwest and is used in native and wildflower gardens.  
 
The popularity of mahonias is shared throughout the world, although they mostly originate from North America. They are easy to grow, and they look good all year long. Their attractive form, leaf colour and flowers stand out when other plants are dormant during the winter.  Throughout the autumn through winter, the many clustered spikes of fragrant, bright yellow blossoms are framed by their deep green to purple leathery, holly-like foliage. It’s a lovely display, especially on grey days. The flowers also attract butterflies and birds.
 
Their dangling clusters of purple berries resemble clusters of grapes, hence their common name. Although they are edible, they are tart therefore are often used to make jam. Please note that their active compound, berberine, is unsafe for pregnant, nursing women and children. The highest level of berberine is in the seeds, so remove them before making jam and consuming the berries. Wait for frost to harvest the berries for the best flavour. The berries attract juncos, towhees, waxwings, robins and other birds.
 
Dyes are also made from the mahonia. The berries are used to make blue, purple, pink or green dye depending on the pH of the soil and water. The stems and roots also produce a yellow dye often used by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest.
 
Although mahonias are soil tolerant, they prefer moist, good draining soil and benefit greatly when mulched.  Protect them from full sun and exposure to high winds.
 
Pruning: Remove or cut back wayward stems to reshape plants in spring after the last frost. At the same time, deadhead, and prune out any diseased, damaged and dead stems. Remove old, non-productive as well as spindly branches. For leggy mahonias that just have growth at the top of bare stems, cut some or all of the branches back by ¼. After pruning water well and mulch.
 Propagate: Take cuttings in late summer into early autumn from healthy new growth from the current season. For more on semi-hardwood cuttings click on Taking Cuttings.
Cultivars and varieties:
  • Oregon Grape holly (M. aquifolium) is the state flower of Oregon and generally grows: up to 5’x 5’ with flowers in dense clusters over a couple of inches long from January to May. Zones 5 to 8
  • Charity Oregon grape (M. x media 'Charity'), 15’x5’, sun to part shade with large flowers spikes held in clusters atop the stems from fall through winter. Zones 7 to 9.
  • Creeping mahonia (M. repens ‘Compacta’), 2’ to 3’, low growing that spreads freely and used as a ground cover. Blossoms from April to May. Zones 5 to 8.
  • Leatherleaf mahonia (M. bealei), (M. japonica), originally from Western China, zones 7 to 9. Grows from 4 to 7’ x 3 to 8’. Flowers February to April. Prefers part shade to shade. Naturalizes due to underground suckers, can become invasive.  
North America indigenous plants
Red twig dogwood and creeping mahonia one grey January day.
Picture
Mature mahonias used as a screen while providing some 'bones' to the garden.
Picture
Mahonias are effective screens and impenetrable when used as barriers due to their spikey leaves.
native plants
The fruit is attractive and edible but take care preparing it.

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  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?