Holly of the Year 2025

Ilex opaca ‘Boiler Boy’

The selection of our native American holly originated as a chance seedling, germinating in the holly collection of Jim Resch in Bear, Delaware around 2007. This fast-growing seedling was grown in steadily larger containers and first flowered in 2014.  As a male holly, it was used to illustrate the difference between male and female hollies in elementary school presentations. When the plant became too large to be readily transported between schools, it was planted out near Downingtown, Pennsylvania (Zone 6b) in 2017.

The original plant, now fifteen feet tall and eight feet wide, was named after Boiler, a black and tan dachshund living at the Downingtown address. ‘Boiler Boy’ propagates readily from semi-hardwood cuttings, and grows rapidly into an upright, narrowly conical specimen. Its dark green, semi-glossy foliage and abundant flowers make it a good choice as a landscape specimen and pollenizer for female American hollies.