Shrub · North Texas care guide
Ilex vomitoria
Nursery Pro tip: The most forgiving evergreen in Texas. Sun, shade, wet, dry — it just grows.
The most useful native evergreen we have: small glossy leaves, gray bark, red berries on the females all winter, and it grows in sun or shade, wet or dry, clay or sand. Trained as a multi-trunk small tree it rivals anything imported. 'Pride of Houston' fruits heavily; weeping forms are available.
Anywhere — full sun to full shade, any soil. 12–20 ft as a tree, so give it room or plan to keep it limbed up. Ideal for the narrow bed between houses or the corner of the patio.
Fall, winter or spring. Wide hole, ball at grade, native soil, Root Stimulator, mulch. Container plants establish quickly.
Weekly the first summer, then it needs nothing. Tolerates both drought and periodic flooding.
Not necessary; a spring feeding speeds up young plants.
Any time. Takes shearing into a formal hedge, or limb it up in winter to make a sculptural multi-trunk tree. Berries form on last year's wood, so prune females after the berries drop in spring.
Essentially pest-free. Only females (most named cultivars) carry berries; a male somewhere in the neighborhood pollinates them.
Screening hedge 5–6 ft apart, patio tree, or foundation anchor at a corner. Underplant with holly fern, liriope, Turk's cap or dwarf yaupon for an all-native evergreen bed.
Written for Rockwall's black clay, heat and winters by the Landscape Source team. Every yard is different — bring a photo by, or ask LS-Ai, and we'll tailor it to your spot.