Ilex vomitoria ‘Schilling’s Dwarf’

This cultivar of Yaupon Holly, fully embraced by the nursery trade like few other native plants, is very popular as a foundation plant around homes and office buildings and it functions admirably in this role.’Schiling’s Dwarf’ is included in our inventory specifically for those who want a formal hedge, but with native plants. It is a slowly growing, compact, male cultivar of the wild type Yaupon Holly, but only 4-7 feet high (if allowed to grow) by 6-10 feet wide, with a rounded form, and small, alternate leaves of glossy green. It is extremely versatile due to its tolerance of soils from wet to dry and light regimes from full sun to light shade. It tends to grow slowly, laterally more than vertically, so it lends itself to hedging. Spaced 2.5 to 3 feet apart, and at least 3 feet from the house or sidewalk, ‘Schilling’s Dwarf’ Yaupon can be kept 2.5 to 3 feet tall for many years with minimal trimming. Generally free of pests and diseases, and bearing no fruit, it is not the most exciting of our offerings, but it definitely has a role to play, if only as a backdrop for the complexity of a naturalistic planting, or as a male pollen donor for female I. vomitoria Hollies such as ‘Taylor’s Rudolph’. Since selections do not have a natural plant distribution, the USDA distribution map linked below is for the species.