Q: I am going to plant ‘Sky Pencil’ holly plants along the front of my house. I’ve read that hollies need a male plant nearby to get berries. Where can I get a male holly?

A: The berries on ‘Sky Pencil’ are little black/purple things and are not very noticeable. They aren’t the showy red berries you get with ‘Nellie Stephens’, ‘Burford’ or winterberry hollies. Use ‘Sky Pencil’ columnar hollies for vertical accent but don’t concern yourself with buying a male variety.