Garden Pic Wednesday: Holly Growth Spurt

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Today's yard task was trimming up my other Gardenia shrub.
It's in the center of my front yard. I keep it trimmed in a large globe shape. It's as old as the house, but still healthy as a horse.
Has large 3 inch flowers. I cut off about 16 inches around it, then clipped off a good number of joints to encourage fresh growth this year. I only do that every other year. Hopefully, I got to it earlier enough this year, it will have plenty of time to set for a good show of flowers next May.

 Today's Garden Pic is my Oakland Holly: It's Had a Growth Spurt!
It's been growing about 5 inches a year up to now---this year it shot this 2 foot spire! I was quite surprised.
The nice thing about Oakland Holly's is they generally maintain a Christmas tree shape on their own, so I expect it will spend a little time filling in the difference. Bred for the South, they're classed as a small tree, topping out at around 15 ft. Also they're self-pollinating. You can see some of my new windows in the background.


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