Ilex cornuta x aquifolium 'Edward J. Stevens'

Ilex 'Edward J. Stevens' is the male companion to one of the most popular hollies in American gardens, and a robust evergreen quite apart from that role. The plant builds a dense, broadly pyramidal shrub or small tree, to fifteen feet and more, clothed in lustrous dark green leaves with only light spining. In spring the small white flowers open thick with pollen, and that pollen is the whole point.

The story starts in the garden of Nellie R. Stevens in Oxford, Maryland, where a Chinese holly, Ilex cornuta, and an English holly, Ilex aquifolium, crossed on their own and dropped vigorous hybrid seedlings. One became the celebrated female 'Nellie R. Stevens', heavy with red fruit; another, named 'Edward J. Stevens', turned out male. The two share the same fine hybrid parentage, glossy foliage, dense habit, and easy vigor, but only the male carries the pollen the female needs.

That partnership is the reason to grow this holly. 'Nellie R. Stevens' fruits far more heavily with a compatible male in range, and 'Edward J. Stevens' is the classic choice, blooming in step and setting the female shrubs alight with berries. Carrying no fruit, the male stays cleaner underfoot, an advantage in commercial and institutional plantings where fallen berries and seedlings are a nuisance.

Even without berries the plant earns a place. The dense pyramidal form and dark evergreen foliage make a fine screen, a tall hedge, a windbreak, or a background layer behind flowering shrubs, in full sun and well-drained soil. Set 'Edward J. Stevens' within pollinating distance of 'Nellie R. Stevens' or other compatible hollies, and one male will service several females.