A Grower Perspective

Autumn is in full glory and I’m asking you to push the season a bit and think about the holiday time and of winter and how to make it a bit lighter.

During winter, while most other plants lay sleeping, holly, with bright winter berries and shiny leaves are at their vibrant best. Nellie R Stevens holly embodies this glistening winter look with lustrous, dark green leaves and attractive scarlet fruit. The look is festive and the berries bring on the activity of birds enjoying a feast. It grows quickly into a conical shape 15 – 20 feet tall by 10 feet wide and can be grown as a shrub or limbed up as a small tree. In the spring, small white and sweetly scented flowers attract bees and butterflies.

Ilex Nellie Stevens is self fruiting, making a single tree a desirable and beautiful addition to any landscape. Both tolerant of drought and air pollution, it is a perfect urban plant and can even be container grown on a porch or deck if provided with full or partial sun. As a hedge this holly can serve as a backdrop for your perennial garden. Plant bright hardy cyclamens below for a lovely plant combination and to make the fairies (who live in hollies) happy.