Dragon Lady Holly
Ilex x aquipernyi ‘Meschick’ · a narrow upright evergreen holly
A tall, skinny holly for screening a tight space, with small, very spiny, glossy leaves that deer leave alone more than most hollies. It needs a male nearby for red berries, and even then they can drop while still green. Give it sun with some afternoon shade; deeper shade thins it.
- Mature size
- 15 × 5 ft
- 4.5 × 1.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 6a–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium
- Blooms
- Apr–May
Dragon Lady Holly at its mature size
A mature Dragon Lady Holly grows 10 to 20 feet tall and 4 to 8 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: fairfaxgardening.org, Cornell Woody Plants, rhs.org.uk, vdberk.co.uk.
Through the year
What Dragon Lady Holly looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Fruit · Oct–Jan
A scattering of red berries among the spiny dark green leaves.
In leaf · Feb–Sep
Small, very spiny, glossy dark green leaves held close on the stems, no berries.
Growing Dragon Lady Holly
- Grows well in
- The Northeast and the Southeast.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Privacy screen, hedge, deer resistant, and winter interest
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- China and Europe
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Dragon Lady Holly, that’s about 5 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 Dragon Lady Holly in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other hollies
Dragon Lady Holly
Golden Oakland Holly
PossumhawAll drawn to the same scale.