The pale white flowers of the easy-care European holly are quite inconspicuous and hardly the reason that garden owners decide to bring this plant into their garden. This is probably due to the shiny dark green leaves or the bright red berries.
Do hollies have yellow flowers or is it another plant?
Hollies usually have pale white flowers; if the flowers are yellow, it is probably a Oregon grape. Both plants have a similar appearance and grow in the same locations, which sometimes leads to confusion.
These berries are often used as Christmas decorations in other countries and are excellent winter food for many local birds. However, these berries are poisonous to other animals and also to humans.
So if you have a “holly” with yellow flowers, then there is probably a mix-up. Mahonia has a similar appearance to holly and also grows in similar locations. Therefore the plants are occasionally confused. But the Oregon grape has bright yellow flowers.
The flowers of the holly:
- rather inconspicuous
- mostly pale white
- bright yellow flowers: probably a mahonia (similar appearance)
Tip
A yellow-flowering holly is botanically a Oregon grape.
