I don't think that hollies of any sort can ever be truly silly, especially hollies planted in their native areas. Where we live, yaupon holly carries the day and possumhaw is right there with it. Possumhaw is deciduous. In winter, the females brazenly flaunt their fruit on bare branches for all the world to see. I love the berried twigs, so bright and cheerful as they offer up a late winter's snack for the birds. Evidently, those berries are not the tastiest and the birds save them for last. Fermented, they make the birds a little loopy and one can only wonder if that's the birds' intentions!
While yaupon and possumhaw grow widely in our area, we did not have any on our property when we moved in. Therefore, we planted a few, but we did not plant them together. I don't know what I was thinking, really, except that I wanted to enjoy the one possumhaw from our back patio. I planted it right at the end of a short path, so that I could enjoy an unobstructed view of it when I looked in that direction. It does look rather ridiculous, a little, naked holly tree all by itself at the edge of the field. It's rather hard to plant around it, situating it as I did, but one of these days, I might figure something out. In the meantime, I smile every time I look at it.
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