Plant: China Girl - Holly
Holly · Ilex x meserveae 'China Girl'
Size: 3 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
China Girl is a dense, mounded evergreen holly with glossy dark green spiny leaves and abundant red berries in fall. It is a female, so a male Meserve holly nearby is needed for fruit. It grows in full sun to part shade in moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soil, resists deer and heat, and makes a hedge, screen, foundation planting or specimen.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 25 ft tall and 15 ft wide
- Blooms in spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 5-9
- Evergreen foliage
- Native plant
Plant description
China Girl is a dense, mounded evergreen holly with glossy dark green spiny leaves and abundant red berries in fall. It is a female, so a male Meserve holly nearby is needed for fruit. It grows in full sun to part shade in moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soil, resists deer and heat, and makes a hedge, screen, foundation planting or specimen.
- Flowers
- Small, white to pinkish-white fragrant flowers in spring, inconspicuous.
- Foliage
- Glossy, leathery, dark green to blue-green ovate leaves with spiny margins.
- Fruit
- Abundant red berries each fall on this female plant; a male Meserve holly such as China Boy nearby is needed for fruit.
- Bark & stems
- Stout, purplish-green stems turning greenish-tan with age.
- Pruning
- Prune occasionally just after flowering to keep size and shape; avoid continual shearing so light reaches inner foliage.
- Native range
- Hybrid of English holly (Ilex aquifolium) and the East Asian Ilex rugosa
