All About Holly Bushes | Ask This Old House

In this video, Ask This Old House landscape contractor Jenn Nawada explains how to identify and care for holly plants and incorporate them into a landscape.

Jenn Nawada explains how to identify and care for holly plants and incorporate them into a landscape. She notes that many holly plants keep their distinctive dense, glossy leaves all year, making them an excellent foundation plant for your garden design.

Many holly plants keep their distinctive dense, glossy leaves all year, making them an excellent foundation plant for your garden design. Hollys typically appear in colder months. Each fall, they produce their trademark red berries. But watch out, the berries are poisonous for humans, so take care around them if you have small children.

The Most Popular Types of Holly
There are more than 480 species of holly—they are a large and diverse group that ranges from small shrubs to tall trees. Which option is suitable for your yard or garden? It depends on what you’re looking for.

This species, also known as blue holly, is a hearty variety that looks similar to the classic European holly that is associated with Christmas because it produces red berries in the fall. It’s leaves are more bluish-green in color, but they have the same shine and leathery texture.

The stems are a purplish color, and in the spring, this holly sprouts small white flowers. Blue Holly is also a fast grower that will stand about six-to-eight feet tall once it’s matured. This plant is tolerant of the cold, and grows best in northern parts of the United States.

Native to Asia, this slow-growing variety of holly is extremely dense and durable. It resembles a boxwood more than a Christmas decoration—instead of spiny, prickly leaves, the crenata has small, spineless convex leaves that are a deep green color. Their berries are a deep purple or black in color, and often are hidden under their leaves.

When to Plant Holly
Both Blue Holly and Japanese Holly can tolerate full sun to part shade. They prefer moist, well-drained soil that is slightly acidic. If you’re looking for an easy-to-care for evergreen, you should plant them in the spring and enjoy them all year.

Where to find it?

About Ask This Old House TV:
From the makers of This Old House, America’s first and most trusted home improvement show, Ask This Old House answers the steady stream of home improvement questions asked by viewers across the United States. Covering topics from landscaping to electrical to HVAC and plumbing to painting and more. Ask This Old House features the experts from This Old House, including general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, landscape contractor Jenn Nawada, master carpenter Norm Abram, and host Kevin O’Connor. Ask This Old House helps you protect and preserve your greatest investment—your home.

Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House:

All About Holly Bushes | Ask This Old House

[xoxooxox]

Who else would like Jenn to do a more indepth show on holly's and proper planting, layout and landscaping with them?

[jimathey]

OLD LEATHER SMITH here, I walk 2 stay healthy. 1 of the places I walk has a lot of Holly Trees, very pretty and tall, nice 2 know more about them, thank you. GOD'S BLESSINGS ✝️⚾🙃

[rdarrett]

I have grown to love ❤️ holly bushes because of their evergreen presence. Bruford holly is in my garden.

[generessler]

Thanks very much! We bought a 14-year old house with 10 mature hollies in the yard. They're beautiful and look like the Blue Holly you showed. The problem is too much of a good thing. They range from 8 to 14 feet. I must cut them back very aggressively. Otherwise they'd swamp the house and other plants. I fear I'm harming them, but don't see an option.

They're not alone. A whole separate problem is Cryptomeria Radicans bursting out of the space they live in.

So the bigger picture is that it would be _really_ valuable to have an episode about maintaining mature landscaping... How to cope when plants invade each other's space, when the plant gets too big for its place, when plants start creating shade that hurts other plants (including grass). Maybe two episodes 😄

It's all a bit intimidating to the willing but un-knowledgable. ATOH is the best I've ever seen at de-mystifying and de-intimidating home ownership. HELP!

[jamesdelgado]

I had some holly bushes in south Texas that were very hardy, outlived just about anything that was not native. Even outlived a Texas Mountain Laurel that typically doesn't live that far south. Anyway, they had to go when I expanded my deck and were a bear to get out. After we cut them down and pulled them out, I figured they were done for, so I tossed them on the old decking materials going to the local landfill. When we got to the landfill, one of the workers there asked if he could have them. I said sure as they would only be going in the pit to be buried with the rest of the stuff. I said what are you going to do with them? He said he would plant them as they needed some screening shrubbery up near the office. I said good luck with that as they had been pulled out 2 days ago and probably wouldn't make it. He took those and planted them and nursed them back to health and those shrubs are still there to this day and gorgeous, almost 10 years later. Turns out just about all of their landscaping was discarded plants that they rescued because their department did not have the budget for lanscaping.

[Scumdog]

Holly makes an excellent firewood, you can burn it wet right after cutting them down. They are also a beautiful very white wood. I have a Holly log about 7 inches thick and about 6' long. Planning on making the wife a jewelry box for Valentine's this year out of Holly and black walnut I also cut down. I think the contrasting colors will look great together

[johnroberts]

HI TOH, thanks Jen for showing us the different kinds of holly plants, they're all beautiful specimens !!! 😊🌿

[dameonpierce]

English Holly is considered a Weed of Concern and is even prohibited from being planted on private property in Kirkland WA.

[sandravega]

I'm glad that I came across this video as I'm researching which Japanese holly to add to our new home's landscaping for zone 5 IL. However, I wish you would have spent a little more time speaking to any issues they may have concerning pests or diseases, if any. Also, do they all have flowers and berries? ❣️💚

[goodtobehandy]

Thanks I think I have a holy now that I know what to look for. I've been trying to identify the trees and plants on my property. It's been very fun to figure out what they are.

[DimitriBianco]

If you buy the right sizes they aren't that much work at least not in Texas. I've got a tree and a few bushes. I've never had to trimmed them or do anything else.

[jameskurdy]

I've found that some hollies are considered invasive, they are listed as noxious in a few cases

[cindybrigham]

Are there any holly varieties suitable for zones 3-4?

[johnfithian-franks]

Hi, we planted a holly tree in honour of our granddaughters birth and I did not give any idea about what it may have needed. It is laden with red berries but as far as I know, it is the only one on our land (100 acres) so I do not know about your statement of it needing another tree nearby.

[jamesa]

We live in uk and have a lot of hollies in our hedges. However in the last few years they have suffered badly from black spot which has even killed some of them. I have been spraying with antifungal stuff and this seems to have fixed the situation.

[bryan]

We have holly bushes, we let them grow. About 20 years old now and these things are 20-25 feet tall or more…P.I.T.A to maintain

[EASyourpain]

Nelle Steven's holly is hardy zone 6-9 I believe. I planted some on the border of zone 5, very near zone 6 where I live. I'm worried they won't survive a harsh winter. Any tips? My county is literally split in half zone 5b-6a.

[MichaelMiller-oc]

we have lived in our home in ohio for 40 years, we have always had a low growing holly bush around the front porch that we know to have been planted about 65 years ago - it sure seems healthy. have always seen red berries on it BUT why does it suddenly have dark blue berries? we have never seen blue berries on this bush! it is lovely but why this change? i am interested and hope someone can give me a reason. tx in ohio

[DeannaWillistonOFS]

Do all the hollies have flowers that smell as amazing as the American Holly flowers?

[E-Kat]

My house is 150 years old and the holly hedge must be that age too as the trunks are huge. The problem is it's getting too old now and the hedge has some black spots causing the leaves to turn yellow and fall off.
I'm wondering if I should try to still treat the bushes with antifungal spray or should I aim to gradually replace each bush?
Which is the best antifungal spray, the least damaging to the environment if I were to treat it?
I have neem tree oil.
Thank you.🌳