Yaupon Holly
Ilex vomitoria
A tough native evergreen holly with small, smooth, glossy leaves that shears well into hedges and topiary, with bright red berries on females that feed birds through winter. It takes drought, salt spray, occasional flooding and sun or shade. Berries need a male nearby, and it forms thickets unless you pull suckers.
- Mature size
- 15 × 10 ft
- 4.5 × 3 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 7a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to full shade
- Water
- Dry to moist
- Blooms
- Apr
Yaupon Holly at its mature size
A mature Yaupon Holly grows 10 to 25 feet tall and 8 to 12 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, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Photos
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Growing Yaupon Holly
- Grows well in
- The Southeast and the Plains and Mountain West.
- Good for
- Privacy screen, hedge, specimen, shade garden, drought tolerant, rain garden, deer resistant, pollinators, and winter interest
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Southeastern United States and Texas
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Yaupon Holly, that’s about 10 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 Yaupon 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.