How to Plant, Grow, and Care for ‘Nellie Stevens’ Holly

Known for their architectural forms, shapely leaves, and showy fruits, hollies anchor a landscape. The Ilex genus holds over 400 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs, and climbers, widely cultivated as garden specimens. One of the most attractive and vigorous hollies is Nellie Stevens holly.

Ilex x ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ grows in a classic pyramidal form with dark, lustrous leaves and vibrant burgundy-red berries. A carefree garden performer, ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ adapts to a variety of landscape conditions. This centuries-old garden staple enhances the garden with multi-season appeal. Here’s how to grow it!

What is ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ Holly?

Ilex x ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ is a broadleaf evergreen holly with dense foliage and abundant red berries. It grows vigorously and readily adapts to various site conditions. Its conical and pyramidal form makes a beautiful garden specimen and exceptional screen planting. Dense and spiny foliage make this cultivar an ideal natural barrier selection. Its tough nature creates a hardy privacy barrier or windscreen planted in a group.

Who is Nellie R. Stevens? 

The name Nellie R. Stevens is well known in southern gardens. But who was she, and why is the famed holly her namesake? Renowned plantsman Allan Armitage and colleague Linda Copeland penned a book called Legends of the Garden, with stories of the people behind garden favorites, including Miss Nellie.

The story goes that Nellie Stevens grew up in Oxford on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. She became the high school principal and a pillar of the community. On a trip to Washington, DC, in 1900, Nellie collected a few seeds from hollies at the U.S. Botanic Garden and planted them in her Oxford garden.

The resulting ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ holly is a fortunate accident between naturally cross-pollinated hollies. Decades later, Nellie’s niece moved to the property and planned to renovate the garden. When she and representatives from the American Holly Society couldn’t identify the prolific specimen, a new species was introduced in Nellie Stevens’ name. 

Characteristics

Ilex x ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ features dark green, glossy leaves with two to three spines along each margin. Densely packed foliage amply creates a full, evergreen tree or shrub. Without pruning, Nellie grows rapidly in a tidy pyramidal form with broad branching at its skirt. With pruning, it grows as a shrub or trunked tree with lower branches lifted. Its prettiest form is the natural, conical specimen.

In the spring, bursts of tiny, greenish-white flowers emerge and attract bees, including Colletes banksi, the harmless cellophane bee among the first to appear in spring to begin feeding and pollinating. Honeybees and bumblebees also flock to the blooms.

The relatively inconspicuous blooms lead to a profusion of bright red, pea-sized berries in the fall. Nellie Stevens produces fruits in abundance. The high color persists in the winter, striking among the lustrous leaves. Berries support wildlife, especially birds foraging late in the season.

Plant ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ as a tall specimen among foundation plantings or at the back of the garden border. It’s lovely in woodland plantings and pollinator gardens alike.

Hollies are dioecious, meaning plants are male or female, and often need cross-pollination to produce fruits. With its hardy parentage, this cultivar produces some fruits without a male pollinator. Nellie’s parent, Ilex cornuta, possesses this ability (to reproduce parthenocarpically), while the other parent, Ilex aquifolium, does not. Nellie Stevens produces more fruits with the benefit of a male specimen nearby, like Ilex cornuta, which blooms at the appropriate time.

Native Area

‘Nellie R. Stevens’ holly is a natural cross between Chinese and English hollies. Chinese holly, Ilex cornuta, grows naturally in Asia on mountains, hillsides, and ravines. Native to eastern China and Korea, breeders cultivate Ilex cornuta for its adaptability and high ornamental landscape value through attractive form, leaves, and fruits.

English holly, Ilex aquifolium, is also called Christmas holly for its characteristic dark, glossy leaves (whose spines we’ve all experienced) and bright red berries used for traditional European holiday decoration. English hollies occur naturally in scrub and woodland areas in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. It dislikes cold, Midwestern winters and hot, Southern summers.

Both species adapt to various site conditions and naturalize in parts of the United States. Ilex cornuta grows wild in areas of the Southeast and Ilex aquifolium in the Pacific Northwest. Chinese holly is on the invasive list for Georgia.  English holly is invasive in Oregon, Alaska, and California (including Yosemite and Redwood National Parks). Their offspring ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ is not considered invasive, though more research needs to be done to determine its actual invasive potential.

Planting

These hollies grow quickly with a mature size of 15 to 25 feet tall and 8 to 12 feet wide. Nellie takes pruning well but doesn’t require it. Allow room for its mature width, broader at the base. Lift lower branches if needed to make room for underplantings (though Nellie is most attractive with a full skirt, branching to the ground).

Since Nellie Stevens bears more fruit when cross-pollinated with a male holly, consider planting an Ilex cornuta nearby. Ilex cornuta exists in numerous cultivars that range in size with a bloom time similar to Nellie’s. There may already be hollies in your area to fulfill the role, and she will bear fruit without a male holly nearby.

Transplanting

Plant ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ any time of year. For most trees and large shrubs, spring and fall are the best planting times. Moderate temperatures and plenty of moisture give plants time to get established before the temperature extremes of summer and winter.

Nellie benefits from roots staying in place, so it’s best to plant it in a permanent location where it can grow and thrive to maturity. It can grow in containers as long as the pot is sizeable for maximum root expansion. Since this plant grows rapidly, transplant to the garden when it outgrows its pot.

How to Grow

This is an easy-care holly with few maintenance needs. She performs beautifully in the landscape with little intervention from the gardener.

Light

‘Nellie R. Stevens’ grows best in full sun to partial shade. They make a woodland edge understory planting or thrive in the sunny border and foundation planting.

In hot southern climates, leaves benefit from protection from direct afternoon rays to prevent leaf scorch.

Water

Water regularly throughout the growing season at about one inch per week or when the top two inches of soil are dry. Once established, hollies are drought tolerant.

Soil

These hollies thrive in well-draining soils with even moisture. They prefer slightly acidic soils rich in organic matter but aren’t picky if soil conditions are lesser. The ideal soil pH is 6.0 or less.

These rugged beauties grow in variable soil types, including clay, sand, and loamy silt. While they’ll withstand periods of water, they won’t thrive in constantly wet conditions.

Temperature and Humidity

Nellie Stevens is among the most heat tolerant of the hollies, ideal for hot, southern climates. Winter hardy to USDA zone 6, they’ll perform best in a site with winter protection, especially in an area out of cold winter winds.

The University of Florida notes that young roots freeze at 23℉ (-5°C) while mature roots withstand temperatures to 14℉ (-10°C). Mulch provides insulation in winter and cooling moisture in summer.

In addition to variable site conditions, it also tolerates coastal exposure and withstands pollution.

Fertilizing

Fertilizer isn’t essential, but applications of a balanced 10-10-10 or other organic fertilizer at planting and spring ensure a vital growing season. Yellowing leaves signal chlorosis from alkaline (high pH) soils, and fertilizer boosts nutrition if this occurs. Amend soils with compost from completely broken down plant matter to lower alkalinity. ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ grows well with or without fertilizer in optimal cultural conditions.

Maintenance

‘Nellie R. Stevens’ is beautiful and low maintenance. With full to partial sun and moist, well-draining soil, there’s little else this holly asks.

If you need to prune for size or shape, do so in late winter to early spring before blooms emerge. Otherwise, let Nellie grow naturally in her lovely, pyramidal fashion.

Propagation

Hollies propagate best through hardwood cuttings. Cuttings may take a few years to develop into robust plants, but they’re an easy way to reproduce the parent plant and relatively easy to try. Stick cuttings right in their permanent garden location to avoid future root disturbance.

Cuttings

Propagate holly cuttings in the spring or fall. Take multiple cuttings since not all may root. Here’s how best to take holly cuttings:

1. Cut a six-to-eight-inch piece from the tip of a healthy stem.
2. Cut the stem at a 45-degree angle.
3. Remove the foliage from the bottom ½ of the cutting, keeping any upper leaves intact.
4. Keep cuttings moist until ready to pot.
5. Moisten the cutting and dip the lower stem in rooting hormone, coating generously.
6. Tap off any excess rooting powder.
7. Stick the cutting at about half its length in its garden location, prepped with moist, well-draining soil.
8. Water/mist as needed, keeping the soil evenly moist.

Common Problems

‘Nellie R. Stevens’ is resistant and primarily free of serious pests and diseases, though hollies are sometimes affected by holly leaf miners, spider mites, whiteflies, and scale. Potential diseases like leaf spot and powdery mildew can occur.

Ensuring proper cultural conditions and a diversity of garden plantings help mitigate pests and diseases by maintaining a balanced garden system. Attract beneficial insects to the garden for natural pest control.

Pests

The best way to control insects is to spot them early. You’ll likely see the insects themselves or notice their paths of destruction.

Leafminers (fly larvae) burrow and tunnel into holly leaves. Their paths and punctures deform leaves, leaving yellowing and blotching. Beneficial insects like lacewings and predatory wasps prey on leafminers. It’s easy to defray a light infestation by removing damaged leaves. 

Scale are common garden pests that pierce plants to feed on sap. You may notice a sticky residue from sap-sucking pests. The little legless blobs usually appear on the undersides of leaves and stems as black, gray, or silvery dots. Leaves may yellow and drop, with branches dying back in heavy infestations. Remove affected leaves (and branches, if severe).

Whiteflies also feed on sap and cause plant weakness. Leaves may turn yellow and drop. Whiteflies flutter around plants when disturbed.

Pesky spider mites live on the undersides of leaves, indicated by webbing and light yellowing of leaf surfaces. Predatory insects like ladybugs and predatory mites help control populations.

In pest outbreaks, spray the plant with a strong stream of water to deter and knock insects off the stems. Mix a few drops of Castile soap in a quart of water to make a simple spray treatment. A horticultural soap or oil can rid the plant of insects if an infestation occurs, but be sure to follow label directions, as these affect beneficial insects as well. 

Diseases

As with pests, the best disease control is prevention through cultural conditions. Fortunately, this cultivar is infrequently affected by disease. In general, problem plants should be removed from the garden to minimize chemical treatments and promote the health of surrounding plants.

Powdery mildew is a common fungal disease indicated by a gray-white powdery substance on leaves, stems, and buds. Holly leaves may distort and drop during infections. Horticultural oils like Neem can treat powdery mildew (but again, these impact beneficial insects, so be sure to follow application requirements).

Leaf spot, another fungal infection, manifests in yellow leaf spots in spring that transition to red in summer and black in the fall. To treat leaf spot, remove damaged leaves (including fallen leaves) and prune plants to increase air circulation. Gray spots occur on leaves when spines puncture them and need no action.

Frequently Asked Questions