© The Dabney Nursery
Plant: Greenleaf - Holly
Holly · Ilex opaca 'Greenleaf'
Size: 15 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
Greenleaf is a selection of American holly, a native broadleaf evergreen with an open pyramidal habit, thick leathery deep green leaves two to four inches long carrying spiny marginal teeth, and smooth light gray bark often splotched with lichen. Greenish white fragrant flowers bloom from April to June, and female plants with a pollinizer nearby carry bright red to orange berrylike drupes from September into February that feed songbirds and small mammals. It grows slowly in full sun to partial shade on well drained acid to neutral clay, loam or shallow rocky soil and tolerates deer, salt and wind, serving as a screen, hedge, barrier or specimen.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 25 ft tall and 15 ft wide
- Blooms in spring, summer
- Hardy in USDA zones 5-9
- Evergreen foliage
- Native plant
Plant description
Greenleaf is a selection of American holly, a native broadleaf evergreen with an open pyramidal habit, thick leathery deep green leaves two to four inches long carrying spiny marginal teeth, and smooth light gray bark often splotched with lichen. Greenish white fragrant flowers bloom from April to June, and female plants with a pollinizer nearby carry bright red to orange berrylike drupes from September into February that feed songbirds and small mammals. It grows slowly in full sun to partial shade on well drained acid to neutral clay, loam or shallow rocky soil and tolerates deer, salt and wind, serving as a screen, hedge, barrier or specimen.
- Flowers
- Greenish white flowers bloom April to June, male flowers in clusters of three to twelve and female flowers solitary.
- Foliage
- Thick, leathery, alternate, simple deep green leaves two to four inches long with spiny marginal teeth.
- Fruit
- Bright red or orange berrylike drupes appear on female plants from September into February; both sexes must be present.
- Bark & stems
- Bark is light gray to whitish and smooth, often showing lichen splotches.
- Native range
- Central and eastern USA, PA and MA south through FL, west to TX
