Wilton Garden Club

American Holly is especially popular in the winter time with its distinctive sharply-toothed evergreen leaves and bright red or yellow berries. Growing conically when young, it can mature to a dense upright specimen of 50 feet or more or be sheared into an impressive hedge. It is native from Massachusetts south to Florida and west to Missouri and Texas in flood plains and mixed hardwood forests. Tolerant of salt, it prefers moist acid soils and some shade. Zones 5-9.