Holly

Noxious Weed of the Month: English Holly
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/12/11/invasive-english-holly-not-so-jolly-for-pacific-northwest-forests/
Happy Spring. We know it’s many months before the holidays, however, it’s a good time to talk about English Holly, as the plant is putting most of its energy into aboveground growth and there is no ripe fruit that will disperse.

We know many people love English Holly. It’s a beautiful plant with distinctive leaves and berries, and wonderful to decorate with during the holidays. However, it is also highly invasive and can grow 15’ to 30’ feet high, create large root systems and spread quickly through an area. It is also damaging to the environment and natural resources, and our county actively works to control and manage its populations.

We discovered a large area of English Holly (a.k.a. Feral Holly) on our HOA land, (SW Corner of development near Olga). We have a large area with English Holly as tall as 20’ high. There are large and small holly plants growing which cover about 15% of this forested area and it continues to spread.

Why not let the English Holly grow on our HOA land? The problem is that it dominates the understory of Washington’s native forests. We are seeing this now as it has taken over native small & medium plants along with the fern, in our HOA area. In addition, this area is adding to the problem of more Feral Holly spreading throughout our island.

Why do we need to remove the English Holly in our yards: The birds eat the berries, which are dropped in several areas around the island. These berries can then sprout and grow more bushes and trees. This is how the Feral Holly explosion started on our HOA land.

To help you id what you have, the committee laid out a description of English Holly that may be in your yard with links to pictures and how to eradicate them. English Holly can be confused with Oregan Grape, a native plant to Washington. So please, read the descriptions carefully. Oregan Grape is a great replacement for English Holly.

In addition to English Holly, English Hawthorn has also become a problem. We all recently received a flyer from the county, in the mail about English Hawthorn. So, while taking out any English Holly, look for English Hawthorn.

If you have any questions or issues with weeds, please contact the Noxious Weed Committee. We are happy to help. We also have contacts who help those who cannot weed their own land.

For more information on weeds, please see our HOA’s Noxious Weed Website.