Shamrock Inkberry
Ilex glabra ‘Shamrock’ · a compact inkberry holly
One of the most compact inkberries, a native evergreen with glossy, deep green leaves, a boxwood alternative for foundations, low hedges and massing. It takes wet spots and salt spray, and its black berries feed birds if a male is nearby. It drops its lower leaves with age; cut it back hard now and then to renew it.
- Mature size
- 4 × 3.5 ft
- 1.2 × 1.1 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Moist to wet
- Blooms
- May–Jun
Shamrock Inkberry at its mature size
A mature Shamrock Inkberry grows 3 to 5 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide.
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: UConn Plant Database, Cornell Woody Plants, NC State Extension, landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu, taylorsnursery.com, blomidonnurseries.com.
Through the year
What Shamrock Inkberry looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Year-round
Glossy deep green narrow leaves, evergreen.
Growing Shamrock Inkberry
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, and the Midwest.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Hedge, small space, foundation planting, rain garden, and pollinators
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Eastern North America
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Shamrock Inkberry, that’s about 3.5 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 Shamrock Inkberry in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other hollies
Soft Touch Japanese Holly
Helleri Japanese Holly
Dwarf Yaupon HollyShamrock InkberryAll drawn to the same scale.