Mahonia aquifolium Apollo - Oregon Grape
Overview
The Mahonia aquifolium Apollo is a superb compact evergreen shrub that brings year-round structure and seasonal interest to British gardens. This low-growing, spreading variety is renowned for its glossy, holly-like foliage that transforms from dark green in summer to stunning purple-red tones in winter. In spring, it produces abundant clusters of bright yellow flowers followed by decorative blue-black berries, making it an invaluable plant for wildlife gardens and challenging growing conditions.
Distinctive Features
Compact Spreading Habit: This compact cultivar forms a neat spreading dome, reaching about 1 metre in height and spreading to about 1.5 metres, making it ideal for smaller gardens and controlled plantings.
Dramatic Seasonal Foliage: Glossy, dark green leaves with sharp edges take on a purple flush in winter, becoming deeply purple/red on attractively red stems, providing exceptional winter colour when most plants are dormant.
Abundant Spring Flowers: In spring it bears tight clusters of yellow flowers, with this Apollo variety being more floriferous with flowers of a darker yellow than most other types.
Wildlife Value: The yellow flowers are followed by blue-black berries in summer and autumn, providing valuable food for birds and extending the plant's seasonal interest.
Drought Tolerance: Drought tolerant once established, making it an excellent choice for low-maintenance gardens and challenging conditions.
Growing Conditions
Aspect: Grows well with mostly sun - shade, though suited to full or partial shade in a sheltered position. Particularly valuable for those difficult shaded areas where many plants struggle.
Soil Requirements: Grow in humus-rich moist but well-drained soil. Adaptable to various soil types but performs best with good organic content and adequate drainage.
Hardiness: Fully hardy in the UK (RHS H6), tolerating temperatures well below -15°C. Suitable for growing in hardiness zones 5-9.
Water Needs: Occasional water once established, with good drought tolerance making it suitable for water-wise gardening approaches.
Planting and Care
Planting: Best planted in autumn or spring when soil conditions are favourable. This variety spreads freely by suckering, so allow adequate space for natural expansion or plan for regular management.
Soil Preparation: Incorporate plenty of organic matter such as compost or well-rotted manure to create the humus-rich conditions that encourage healthy growth and flowering.
Feeding: Apply a balanced, slow-release fertiliser in early spring. An annual mulch of organic matter provides ongoing nutrition and helps retain soil moisture.
Pruning: Suitable for evergreen shrubs that require minimal pruning. Trim or lightly cut back shoots that spoil symmetry. Deadhead regularly to maintain appearance and encourage further flowering.
Mulching: Apply a 5-7cm layer of organic mulch annually to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and provide slow-release nutrients.
Garden Uses
Groundcover Planting: Ideal for planting at the back of a border or even as groundcover in a woodland garden, where its glossy interestingly shaped leaves will be shown off.
Low Hedging: Useful as part of a low hedge, providing year-round structure with seasonal flowering interest.
Mixed Borders: Excellent for adding evergreen structure to mixed shrub borders, with the seasonal colour changes providing year-round interest.
Woodland Gardens: Particularly suited to a woodland setting, where it thrives in partial shade and complements other woodland plants.
Wildlife Gardens: The spring flowers provide early nectar for pollinators, whilst the autumn berries feed birds and other wildlife.
Companion Plants
Pairs beautifully with other shade-tolerant plants such as ferns, hostas, and hellebores. The yellow spring flowers complement blue bulbs like bluebells or scillas, whilst the winter purple foliage works well with plants that have silver or pale green leaves. Excellent with other woodland plants like rhododendrons and camellias.
Seasonal Interest
Spring: Abundant clusters of bright yellow flowers create spectacular early season displays, often flowering from March to May.
Summer: Glossy green foliage provides attractive structure, with blue-black berries developing from the spent flowers.
Autumn: Berries ripen to deep blue-black, providing food for wildlife whilst the foliage begins its seasonal colour transition.
Winter: The evergreen foliage turns purple in winter, shiny green becoming purple, creating stunning winter colour when most plants are dormant.
Maintenance Tips
Sucker Management: This variety spreads freely by suckering, so remove unwanted suckers to control spread or allow natural colony formation in suitable locations.
Winter Protection: Although fully hardy, young plants benefit from mulching in their first winter to help establish strong root systems.
Deadheading: Regular deadheading extends the flowering period and maintains plant appearance, though leaving some flowers to develop berries benefits wildlife.
Why Choose Mahonia aquifolium Apollo?
This outstanding evergreen shrub offers exceptional value with its compact size, dramatic seasonal changes, and low maintenance requirements. This small, bushy plant, easy to grow and versatile, has evergreen foliage similar to that of holly, making it perfect for gardeners seeking year-round structure with seasonal interest. Its ability to thrive in shade, combined with drought tolerance once established, makes it invaluable for challenging garden conditions. The abundant flowers, attractive berries, and stunning winter colour provide four seasons of interest, whilst the wildlife value adds ecological benefits to any garden.
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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£19.99 |