American Holly
Ilex opaca
A native evergreen holly with spiny leaves and bright red winter berries, prized for wreaths and by birds, a handsome specimen, screen or barrier hedge that deer leave alone. Give it moist, acid, well-drained soil, out of cold winter wind; alkaline soil yellows it. Only females fruit, and only with a male nearby.
- Mature size
- 50 × 15 ft
- 15 × 4.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Dry to moist
- Blooms
- Apr–Jun
American Holly at its mature size
A mature American Holly grows 40 to 60 feet tall and 10 to 20 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.
Through the year
What American Holly looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Fruit · Oct–Feb
Bright red berries scattered through the foliage.
In leaf · Mar–Sep
Dense spiny dull-green leathery leaves.
Photos
Growing American Holly
- Grows well in
- The Northeast and the Southeast.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Privacy screen, hedge, specimen, drought tolerant, deer resistant, pollinators, and winter interest
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Central and Eastern United States
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For American Holly, that’s about 15 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See American Holly in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other hollies
Needlepoint HollyOakland Holly
Nellie Stevens Holly
American HollyAll drawn to the same scale.