The middle storey of the garden, built to last. Large shrubs bridge the gap between the canopy and the ground, giving height, screening, and year-round substance without the scale or wait of a full tree.
Ilex mutchagara is a quiet, graceful evergreen holly from Okinawa, close enough to the familiar Japanese holly, Ilex crenata, that some botanists treat it as a form of that species. The small, glossy, dark green leaves carry fine teeth along the edges but no spines at all, and the habit is open and airy rather than dense, giving the shrub a lighter, more relaxed look than the tightly sheared boxwood-substitutes it resembles.
Ilex 'Sand Pond' is a Woodlanders introduction with a good story and better berries, a natural hybrid between two southeastern native hollies: the stately American holly, Ilex opaca, and the fine-textured myrtle-leaf holly, Ilex myrtifolia. The cross carries small, narrow, glossy evergreen leaves midway between the parents, on a plant that colors up each fall with an unusually heavy set of large red berries.
Ilex paraguariensis is the holly behind maté, the caffeine-rich tea poured from a gourd and sipped through a metal straw across Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and southern Brazil. As a plant, yerba maté is a broadleaf evergreen holly, a shrub or small tree with dark, leathery, serrated leaves, closely resembling the native dahoon holly, Ilex cassine, of the southeastern United States, and carrying the same small white flowers and, on female plants, small red berries.
Ilex pedunculosa is the holly that fools people, an evergreen with smooth, spineless, glossy leaves closer to mountain laurel than to any prickly Christmas holly. The real signature comes in fall, when bright red berries hang from slender stalks an inch or two long, dangling below the branches like tiny cherries, a detail no other cultivated holly quite matches and the source of both the botanical name and the common one, longstalk holly.
Ilex pedunculosa (male) is the pollen partner for one of the most refined and cold-hardy evergreen hollies in cultivation. Like the female, this male longstalk holly carries smooth, spineless, glossy leaves closer to mountain laurel than to a prickly Christmas holly, on a slow, medium to large shrub or small tree of quiet good looks. What the male does not do is fruit; what the male does is make that fruit possible.
Ilex spinigera is a holly with a deep past, a rare evergreen from the Hyrcanian forests that ring the southern Caspian Sea in northern Iran. Small, glossy, dark green leaves edged with fine spines clothe a dense small tree or large shrub, and on female plants such as this one bright red berries glow against the foliage through fall and into winter, the classic holly effect on an uncommonly ancient plant.
Yaupon is the fine-textured evergreen holly of the Southeast, native along the coastal plain from Virginia to Texas and a member of the holly family, Aquifoliaceae. The species wears small, glossy, oval leaves on gray twigs, tolerates salt, drought, and hard shearing, and has long anchored Southern gardens as hedge, screen, and topiary. 'Folsom's Weeping' breaks from that upright habit entirely: a tall female selection whose branches spill downward in long, pendulous curtains, so that a single mature plant reads as a green fountain rather than a shrub.
Hardiness
Zones 7–10
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
15–18 ft.
Spread
6–10 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
general wellness, mental & emotional well-being, detoxification & cleansing
Yaupon is the small-leaved evergreen holly of the southeastern coastal plain, native from Virginia to Texas and a member of the holly family, Aquifoliaceae. Adaptable almost to a fault, salt tolerant, drought tolerant, and content in sun or shade, the species takes shearing as neatly as boxwood and has served Southern gardens for generations as hedge, screen, and clipped structure. 'Hoskins Shadow' is a standout among the named forms: a dense, fast-growing shrub or small tree, 15 to 20 feet in time, chosen for unusually large, dark green foliage and, above all, for cold hardiness well beyond the ordinary yaupon.
Hardiness
Zones 6–10
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
15–20 ft.
Spread
8–10 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
general wellness, mental & emotional well-being, detoxification & cleansing
Yaupon is the small-leaved evergreen holly of the southeastern United States, native along the coastal plain from Virginia south to Texas, with outliers into Cuba and the Yucatan, and a member of the holly family, Aquifoliaceae. The wild plant is prized for fine, dense foliage that shears like boxwood, so a big-leaved yaupon comes as a small surprise. 'Lowrey's Big Leaf' is exactly that: an upright, evergreen selection whose leaves run conspicuously larger and glossier than the norm, giving the whole shrub a bolder, greener texture while keeping all the toughness of the species.
Hardiness
Zones 7–10
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
10–20 ft.
Spread
8–12 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
general wellness, mental & emotional well-being, detoxification & cleansing
Yaupon is the small-leaved evergreen holly of the Southeast, native along the coastal plain from Virginia to Texas and a member of the holly family, Aquifoliaceae. Salt tolerant, drought tolerant, and willing in sun or shade, the species shears as cleanly as boxwood and has long been a Southern mainstay for hedges and clipped structure, the females carrying translucent scarlet berries into winter. 'Yawkey' rewrites that last detail in a rarer color: this is a yellow-berried yaupon, hung each winter with soft amber-gold fruit instead of red, on an upright, somewhat open and spreading frame.
Hardiness
Zones 7–10
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
8–12 ft.
Spread
6–10 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
general wellness, mental & emotional well-being, detoxification & cleansing
Yaupon holly is a small-leaved evergreen shrub or small tree of the southeastern United States, native from coastal Virginia south to Texas. Adaptable to a fault, salt tolerant, drought tolerant, and willing in sun or shade, yaupon takes shearing as gracefully as any boxwood, which has made the species a Southern mainstay for hedges, topiary, and clipped evergreen structure. The tiny white spring flowers are easy to miss, but the bees do not miss them, and on female plants they give way to a heavy crop of small, translucent berries that hang on well into winter.
Hardiness
Zones 7–10
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
8–10 ft.
Spread
6–8 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
general wellness, mental & emotional well-being, detoxification & cleansing
Yaupon is the small-leaved evergreen holly of the southeastern coastal plain, native from Virginia to Texas and a member of the holly family, Aquifoliaceae. Tough, salt tolerant, drought tolerant, and endlessly shearable, the species has anchored Southern gardens for generations. 'Gold Top' rings a color change on the familiar green: each spring the new growth flushes a bright yellow-green, gilding the tips of a compact, dense female shrub, and in fall the same plant hangs the usual red yaupon berries when a male grows nearby.
Hardiness
Zones 7–10
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
8–10 ft.
Spread
6–8 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
general wellness, mental & emotional well-being, detoxification & cleansing
Yaupon is the small-leaved evergreen holly of the southeastern United States, native along the coastal plain from Virginia to Texas and a member of the holly family, Aquifoliaceae. Salt tolerant, drought tolerant, and willing in sun or shade, the species shears as cleanly as boxwood and has long been a Southern mainstay for hedges, screens, and topiary. This is the straight male form: no berries, since male hollies never fruit, but a dense, dependable evergreen and the pollen source that every berried female yaupon needs.
Hardiness
Zones 7–10
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
10–20 ft.
Spread
8–12 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
general wellness, mental & emotional well-being, detoxification & cleansing
Yaupon is the small-leaved evergreen holly of the Southeast, native along the coastal plain from Virginia to Texas and a member of the holly family, Aquifoliaceae. The wild plant is a broad, twiggy shrub, so a yaupon that grows straight up like a green column is a genuine oddity. 'Will Fleming' is exactly that: a male selection with a strict fastigiate habit, reaching twelve to fifteen feet tall on a base only two or three feet wide, a living exclamation mark carrying the fine yaupon leaf all the way up.
Hardiness
Zones 7–10
Light
Full Sun / Part Shade
Height
12–15 ft.
Spread
2–3 ft.
Bloom
White
Plant type
Shrub
Traditional use
general wellness, mental & emotional well-being, detoxification & cleansing
Ilex x koehneana, the Koehne or chestnut-leaf holly, is a bold hybrid between the Asian lusterleaf holly, Ilex latifolia, and the European holly, Ilex aquifolium, combining the big glossy leaf of one parent with the classic red berries and spined margins of the other. 'Hohman' is one of the finest of the group for the South: a large, dense, pyramidal evergreen carrying handsome dark green, serrated leaves and heavy crops of bright red fruit, building to twenty-five feet in time.
The anise trees, genus Illicium, are aromatic broadleaf evergreens of the star-anise family, Schisandraceae, named from the Latin illicium, an allurement, for the spicy scent the crushed leaves give off. Illicium anisatum is the Japanese anise, called shikimi in its homeland, a glossy, upright evergreen shrub or small tree with leathery, anise-scented leaves and pale creamy-yellow, star-shaped flowers in earliest spring.
Illicium floridanum, the Florida anise, is a lush evergreen shrub of the southern woods, prized for glossy, dark green leaves that release a clean anise or licorice scent when crushed. In mid-spring the plant hangs itself with curious flowers, two inches across and shaped like deep maroon starfish, their many narrow petals radiating from the center. Dense, shade-loving, and richly aromatic in leaf, Florida anise brings a bold, tropical-looking evergreen presence to a shady garden.
The anise trees, genus Illicium, are aromatic broadleaf evergreens of the star-anise family, Schisandraceae, named from the Latin illicium, an allurement, for the scent of their leaves. Illicium floridanum, the Florida anise, is the Southeast's own contribution, a shade-loving evergreen native along shaded streambanks and seepage slopes from the Florida panhandle to Louisiana. 'Halley's Comet' is one of the best selections, a vigorous but compact form with especially dark foliage and a heavy show of velvety, star-shaped flowers in deep wine-red.
The anise trees, genus Illicium, are aromatic broadleaf evergreens of the star-anise family, Schisandraceae, their Latin name meaning an allurement, for the spicy scent of the leaves. Illicium floridanum, the Florida anise, is a Southeastern native of shaded streambanks and moist ravines from Georgia to Louisiana, valued as one of the finest flowering evergreens for shade. This is a variegated selection, carrying the usual two-inch, starfish-shaped maroon flowers over foliage marked with a subtle, quiet green-on-green variegation.
Illicium floridanum var. album is the uncommon white-flowered form of the Florida anise, all the beauty and aromatic foliage of the species, with starry spring flowers of clean white in place of the usual deep maroon. Against the glossy, dark green, anise-scented leaves, the pale, many-petaled stars seem to float, lighting up a shady corner where the darker form would simply recede. A choice and seldom-seen selection, the white Florida anise is a connoisseur's evergreen for shade.
