Inkberry Holly
Ilex glabra
A native evergreen shrub with glossy leaves that makes a fine hedge, screen or foundation planting, with black berries for birds into winter. It thrives in moist, acid soil, even wet spots, and takes some salt. It suckers into colonies, and the berries need a male plant nearby.
- Mature size
- 7.5 × 6.5 ft
- 2.3 × 2 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to wet
- Blooms
- May–Jun
Inkberry Holly at its mature size
A mature Inkberry Holly grows 5 to 10 feet tall and 5 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: NC State Extension.
Through the year
What Inkberry Holly looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Year-round
Dense small glossy dark green leaves.
Photos
Growing Inkberry Holly
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, and the Midwest.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Privacy screen, hedge, rain garden, pollinators, and winter interest
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Eastern North America
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Inkberry Holly, that’s about 6.5 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 Inkberry Holly in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other hollies
Castle Wall Holly
Inkberry Holly
Sky Pencil HollyCastle Spire HollyAll drawn to the same scale.