The pale white flowers of the low-maintenance European holly are quite unassuming and hardly the reason garden owners decide to bring this plant into their garden. This is probably more due to the shiny dark green foliage or the bright red berries.
The holly flowers are white, not yellow
These berries are popular as Christmas decorations in other countries and are excellent winter food for many native birds. However, these berries are poisonous to other animals and also to humans.
So if you have a "holly" with yellow flowers, there is probably a mix-up here. Oregon grape has a similar appearance to holly and also grows in similar locations. Therefore, the plants are occasionally confused. But mahonia has bright yellow flowers.
The flowers of the holly:
- rather inconspicuous
- mostly pale white
- bright yellow flowers: probably mahonia (similar appearance)
tips
A yellow flowering holly is botanically a mahonia.