What's this growing in my garden?

[Mike4]

In my recently acquired well established garden there are all sorts interesting plants, shrubs and trees. Most I can identify by googling, using plant ID apps etc but a few are refusing to reveal their identities, hence this thread. Every so often I plan to post a pic or two of something being coy about what it is, to see if the combined might of TLFers here can figure out what it is...

First up, a small tree. Lots of people have suggested it might be a spine-free holly but I can't find one on line at all, let alone one with variegated leaves and green berries in August. Here is a pic of the whole tree, followed by closer-ups of the leaves and berries, one including a hand for scale. Does anyone recognise this?









Much obliged for any ideas!

[jackdaww]

holly.

variegated .

[oldapple]

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/95564/Ile ... -King-(f-v)/Details

I also think it's a holly as above. I moved house at the end of last year and discovered I had one of these too stuck amongst a badly overgrown hedge with two 4-5" thick ivy growths reaching right up to the top. Many an hour has been spent clearing round it and an unbelievable number of trailer loads of overgrowth removed. The tree actually looks relieved now. You have a lovely project there!

[oldapple]

Sorry link doesn't seem to work but if you search Golden King Holly and go to the RHS result, that was my intended source.

[Breelander]

Sorry link doesn't seem to work....

Some links with characters like ) in them get broken when you post them, here's a working copy....

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/95564/Ilex-x-altaclerensis-Golden-King-(f-v)/Details

[Mike4]

Sorry link doesn't seem to work but if you search Golden King Holly and go to the RHS result, that was my intended source.

Ok, thanks!

Your link worked when I copied and pasted the whole lot including the /details on the end ... https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/95564/Ile ... -King-(f-v)/Details

Close but not the same I don't think.... The RHS image leaves all have little vestigial spines (teeth) on the edges which mine don't, and the leaf shape is more oval than lanceolate like mine. Also, the berries on the RHS image are red/brown not green!

Will the berries on mine turn brown as the season advances perhaps?

[Breelander]

Close but not the same I don't think.... The RHS image leaves all have little vestigial spines (teeth) on the edges which mine don't, and the leaf shape is more oval than lanceolate like mine. Also, the berries on the RHS image are red/brown not green!

Will the berries on mine turn brown as the season advances perhaps?

Berries will not ripen until the Autumn.

It's certainly a holly, question is which one. Try this.....

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/96268/Ilex-x-altaclerensis-Belgica-Aurea-(f-v)/Details

[Mike4]

Close but not the same I don't think.... The RHS image leaves all have little vestigial spines (teeth) on the edges which mine don't, and the leaf shape is more oval than lanceolate like mine. Also, the berries on the RHS image are red/brown not green!

Will the berries on mine turn brown as the season advances perhaps?

Berries will not ripen until the Autumn.

It's certainly a holly, question is which one. Try this.....

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/96268/Ilex-x-altaclerensis-Belgica-Aurea-(f-v)/Details

I think you've cracked it. a few other images of BELGICA AUREA / SILVER SENTINEL (ilex altaclerensis) look the same to my eye. E.g.



From https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/shrub/ilex.php

[Gengulphus]

Sorry link doesn't seem to work....

Some links with characters like ) in them get broken when you post them, here's a working copy....

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/95564/Ilex-x-altaclerensis-Golden-King-(f-v)/Details

It's straying a bit off-topic, but people might find it useful to know what needs to be done to make the link work... Basically, if you just copy a link into a post, the 'link recogniser' part of the posting software can make mistakes about where it ends, and encountering a closing parenthesis is one of the situations where it makes mistakes. But you can tell it precisely where the link ends by copying the link into the post, selecting it (taking care to select precisely from its start to its end, with no characters missed or spurious extra characters included) and clicking the [URL] button above the input window.

Gengulphus

[88V8]

In our previous house there was an inherited holly, spineless, perhaps 30ft. It became rather wide, I began pruning it and on the branches I cut, it grew leaves with spines.
Not daft, hollies.

V8

[JohnB]

Plants often grow spiny leaves at low level to deter deer, and switch to spineless leaves above the browse level. Common holly is spines all the way up though.