Day 102 - Big, Bold, Beautiful

When this planter was first placed at our Westhaven Town Center, I thought to myself, "This looks like I'm planting up a UFO spaceship." I also thought, "Oh, goody, I get to use something really big!" I'd been wanting to test the hardiness of the Ilex vomitoria f. pendula (Weeping yaupon holly) which is reported as being only hardy to zone 7. We're zone 6 so planting this in a container instead of the ground increases the risk factor for survival. This picture was taken a week after temperatures were in the teens and I'm still seeing healthy stems. I planted around the rootball with Abelia x Grandiflora 'Rose Creek', Santolina chamaecyparissus (Lavender Cotton), and threw in a miniature Juniper chinensis 'Gold Lace' in the front, a few Pansies and Hedera helix (English Ivy) to fill the holes around the edge.

These berries and leaves still look good after several hard freezes. Ask me this spring how this holly did!