Holly Species that are Native to North America

When researching plants for our new house holly trees kept coming up as ideas for foundation plantings. I want to focus more on native plants, not exclusively, but with a conscience effort to lean toward native species. So I started looking to native holly trees. Native trees offer more support for local wildlife and are generally better adapted to our climate here in Tennessee. Here is a list of holly trees that are native to North American that I have researched and may decide to use in our garden!

General Holly Characteristics:

• Many hollies are poisonous to people and should not be ingested, although there are some exceptions (Ilex vomitoria).
• Hollies are dioecious which means each plant is either male or female and at least 1 of each is necessary for pollination and berry formation.
• Hollies can be evergreen or deciduous depending on the variety.
• Holly shrubs can be rooted fairly easily through stem cuttings: How to Propagate Holly from Cuttings.

North American Holly Trees and Shrubs

American Holly (Ilex opaca)

American Holly (Ilex opaca) is found in the eastern and central United States. This holly is a popular evergreen tree known for its glossy, spiky leaves and bright red berries and is often used for holiday decorations. American Holly is naturally found in the southeastern United States and up the coast as far as Massachusetts. It’s a fairly large tree and can grow between 25 and 60 ft and can reach heights of 100ft. It’s hardiness zone is generally zones 5-9.

Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra)

Inkberry (Ilex glabra): This native evergreen shrub is found in eastern North America. It has smooth, elliptical leaves and produces small black berries. This holly is a smaller clump forming holly that grows up to 6 to 12 feet tall. Inkberry has bluish black drupes that are referred to as berries. The small white flowers are beneficial to bees and the berries are well loved by the birds.

Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata)

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata): Winterberry is a deciduous holly shrub that is native to eastern North America. It sheds its leaves in the fall, but the bare branches are covered with bright red berries throughout the winter. Winterberry can show beautiful berry displays in the winter which looks amazing against a backdrop of evergreens. For a really good list of Winterberry male and female plants check out this page by the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Female plants can produce red to yellow colored berries. Growing zones for Winterberry holly are from zones 3 to 9. Depending on the variety these hollies can grow between 3 and 10 ft tall.

Dahoon Holly (Ilex cassine)

Dahoon Holly (Ilex cassine): Native to the southeastern coastal United States from Virginia to Texas. Dahoon holly is an evergreen tree with elliptical leaves and red berries. It’s often found in wetlands and swampy areas and isn’t reliably cold hardy. It’s ideal hardiness zone is 8-9 but can tolerate zones 7-11. It is not an ideal tree for Tennessee areas.

Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria)

Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria): Yaupon holly is a small evergreen tree or shrub native to the southeastern United States. It has small, leathery leaves and produces red berries. The leaves can be used as a coffee substitute and as far as I know are the only North American plant to contain caffeine which the Native American tribes used to make a caffeinated beverage. Yaupon holly is one of the few consumable varieties of holly.

Mountain Holly (Ilex mucronata)

Mountain Holly (Ilex mucronata): Native to the north eastern parts of North America, this deciduous holly has serrated leaves and produces red berries. It’s commonly found in wetland areas and grows in zones 3 to 6.

My Thoughts on these Hollies

Between these options for our Tennessee gardening I’m looking into the American Holly, Yaupon holly, inkberry and the Winterberry hollies. The American holly get’s too large to be used near a house foundation but Inkberry might. The inkberry berries can be stain problems so finding male plants may be the way to go with them. Winterberry is much more of a feature plant to add winter interest.

I’m also very curious about the Yaupon holly and it’s ability to caffeinate an individual! How cool that would be to have a reliable American grown plant that can be substituted for tea or coffee?

In the end Hollies may not be the way I go for foundation plantings at all. I an toying with the idea of planting mixed evergreen and deciduous shrubs. plantings between evergreen and deciduous shrubs. I like the idea of mixing together evergreen plants like holly for winter interest and maybe putting in some viburnums or ninebark for some unique plants during the warmer seasons.