Landscape Spotlight: American Holly

Evergreen plants have great appeal in landscaping. They are heavily favored for screening, especially around the front of homes where they used to serve a useful purpose to cover the bare foundations of houses. This article from 1980 downplayed the need for foundation plants over 40 years ago yet still the practice continues. The article provides some useful context for the practice.

In the late 1800’s: large homes were built: custom-built houses with high foundations were in fashion about the same time houses were placed further back from the street and set in an open lawn. In those years, a foundation planting was deemed necessary to hide the foundation and otherwise soften the break between the house and lawn.  

Early front porches, popular for watching passersby and socializing, also reinforced the need for foundation plantings to hide the supporting posts for the porch: “The plants which once were used to hide the open porch railings and lattice work between the supporting posts of houses of that architectural style still exist. This type of ‘left-over’ foundation planting across the front of most residential houses today serves no real purpose.”

Today we find that buildings have beautiful fronts and there is no need to hide support structures. Yet the concept of evergreen trees and shrubs to beautify the area in front of a building persists and so in this post I want to highlight a pleasing arrangement of American holly (Ilex opaca) that I found in a relatively recent group of landscaping.

American holly with Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica)

This group of 5 American hollies is in front of Milton City Hall, and in the dead of winter they provide a pleasing display of green foliage with red fruit highlights. On the side of the building, there is a grouping of what appear to be Foster hollies (Ilex x attenuata ‘Fosteri’) – a hybrid between two native species: Ilex opaca and Ilex cassine.

The suite of native evergreen trees in the Piedmont area is not as robust as most would like and exotic plants are often used instead. If we can increase the demand for good native choices, perhaps growers will produce more. Ask for native plants when you shop, ask for them to be ordered if necessary, and be willing to wait for the next shipment to come in. They’re worth it.

American holly in front of Milton City Hall