© The Dabney Nursery
Plant: Sky Pencil - Holly
Holly · Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil'
Size: 1 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
Sky Pencil is a narrowly columnar Japanese holly that grows 4 to 10 feet tall and only 1 to 3 feet wide, forming a dense, erect, multi-stemmed exclamation point of small glossy dark green leaves. Small fragrant greenish-white flowers open in spring and attract bees, followed by black berry-like drupes in fall and winter. It takes full sun to partial shade in acid to neutral soil with good drainage and tolerates pollution, which suits it to containers, patios, walkways and any place a strong vertical line is wanted in a small space.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 10 ft tall and 3 ft wide
- Blooms in spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 5-8
- Evergreen foliage
Plant description
Sky Pencil is a narrowly columnar Japanese holly that grows 4 to 10 feet tall and only 1 to 3 feet wide, forming a dense, erect, multi-stemmed exclamation point of small glossy dark green leaves. Small fragrant greenish-white flowers open in spring and attract bees, followed by black berry-like drupes in fall and winter. It takes full sun to partial shade in acid to neutral soil with good drainage and tolerates pollution, which suits it to containers, patios, walkways and any place a strong vertical line is wanted in a small space.
- Flowers
- Small fragrant greenish-white four to five petalled flowers in cymes in spring, which attract bees.
- Foliage
- Small glossy dark green ovate evergreen leaves under an inch long, long lasting on the plant.
- Fruit
- Black, globose, berry-like fruit on pollinated female plants from fall to winter, about 1/4 inch long and hidden under the foliage.
- Bark & stems
- Bark is smooth, gray-brown or slightly greenish. Stems are green on current season growth and turn gray-green to gray-brown by year two or three.
- Pruning
- Keeps its narrow upright form without pruning.
- Native range
- East Nepal to temperate East Asia, Japan and Korea
