Holly bushes, with their evergreen foliage and vibrant berries, are a popular choice for landscaping. They offer year-round appeal, providing structure and color. Their diverse forms and sizes suit various garden styles, from formal to informal.
Why Choose Holly for Landscaping
Holly bushes offer many advantages, primarily their consistent interest year-round. Many varieties retain green leaves in winter, contrasting with dormant plants. Female plants often produce bright red berries, adding color and attracting birds.
Hollies are adaptable, thriving in various climates and tolerating a range of soil conditions, though most prefer well-draining, slightly acidic soil. Their resilience and low maintenance once established make them practical. They provide reliable year-round structure and color.
Popular Holly Varieties for Landscaping
Selecting the right holly variety is important, as they come in many forms and sizes.
‘Nellie R. Stevens’ holly (Ilex x ‘Nellie R. Stevens’) is a widely used evergreen shrub with a dense, pyramidal shape, growing 15-25 feet tall and 10-15 feet wide. Its glossy, dark green leaves and abundant red berries make it popular for privacy screens, hedges, or as a specimen plant. This female holly can produce berries without a male pollinator, though a male like ‘Edward J. Stevens’ or Chinese holly increases production. It adapts to full sun to partial shade and tolerates various soil types, including clay, but prefers well-drained, acidic conditions.
‘Sky Pencil’ holly (Ilex crenata ‘Sky Pencil’) is an evergreen shrub known for its narrow, columnar growth, typically 6-10 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide. Its dark green, fine-textured foliage lacks spiny edges, offering a softer alternative. It is ideal for tight spaces, framing entryways, or adding vertical accents, thriving in full sun to partial shade with well-draining soil. It produces small, black berries.
‘Blue Holly’ (Ilex x meserveae) varieties, like ‘Blue Princess’ (female) and ‘Blue Prince’ (male), have glossy, blue-green leaves and cold hardiness. ‘Blue Princess’ grows 10-15 feet tall and 8-10 feet wide with an upright habit, producing abundant red berries when pollinated by a male ‘Blue Holly’ like ‘Blue Prince’. These hybrids prefer moist, well-drained, acidic soils and perform well in full sun to partial shade, suitable for hedges, foundation, and mass plantings.
Inkberry holly (Ilex glabra) is a native evergreen shrub with small, spineless, dark green leaves and black berries, offering a softer appearance. It grows 5-10 feet tall and 5-8 feet wide, often with a rounded or spreading habit. Inkberry is adaptable to various soil conditions, including moist to wet areas, and tolerates full sun to partial shade, making it suitable for rain gardens or areas with poor drainage. Its ability to spread by suckering makes it useful for mass plantings and erosion control.
Creative Landscaping Ideas with Holly
Holly bushes offer many possibilities for creative landscape design. Their dense, evergreen nature makes them excellent for privacy hedges and screens, providing year-round seclusion. Varieties like ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ form tall barriers, while ‘Sky Pencil’ holly is ideal for narrow hedges along walkways or property lines. Columnar hollies create a formal, structured look, defining boundaries.
Hollies function well as foundation plantings, providing consistent greenery around buildings. Low-growing or compact varieties, such as Japanese hollies or Inkberry cultivars, add structure without obstructing windows. Combining them with deciduous flowering shrubs creates a dynamic, multi-season display.
Hollies can serve as accent plants, drawing attention to specific garden areas or providing a focal point. A single ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ or a grouping of ‘Sky Pencil’ hollies adds vertical interest and formality to a garden bed or entryway. Their distinct shapes and rich green foliage stand out, especially when contrasted with plants of different textures or colors.
Hollies are valuable for winter interest. Deciduous varieties like Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) display abundant red berries on bare stems, providing striking color against snow. Evergreen hollies, with persistent foliage and berries, also contribute to winter landscapes, ensuring garden appeal.
Hollies integrate well into mixed shrub beds, contributing structure and evergreen presence among deciduous plants and perennials. Their diverse sizes and habits allow them to serve as background, mid-ground, or foreground specimens. For instance, Inkberry holly’s rounded form complements other shrubs and adds year-round density to a border.
Essential Care Tips for Landscaped Holly
Proper care ensures healthy holly bushes. When planting, dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball and only as deep, ensuring the top is level with or slightly above the soil. Loosen circling roots before planting. Backfill, tamp down soil to remove air pockets, and water thoroughly to settle roots.
Adequate watering is crucial, especially during establishment. Newly planted hollies need weekly water for the first few months, or until established, to encourage deep root growth. Established hollies prefer consistently moist, well-drained soil but tolerate some dry periods. During prolonged dry spells, water deeply at the base rather than overhead. A 2-3 inch layer of organic mulch around the base helps retain soil moisture and regulate temperature.
Strategic pruning maintains holly shape and size. While many hollies have a naturally tidy form, pruning controls size, promotes density, or shapes hedges. Severe pruning to rejuvenate an overgrown plant is best done in late winter or early spring when dormant. For hedges, yearly trimming in late spring after new growth maintains a groomed appearance. Remove dead, diseased, or broken branches as they are noticed.
Hollies are robust, but monitoring for common pests and diseases maintains plant health. Leafminers cause yellow or brown trails on leaves, while scale insects lead to yellowing foliage and leaf drop. Fungal issues like tar spot cause yellow or black spots on leaves. Ensuring proper air circulation and avoiding overly wet conditions prevents many fungal problems.