Dwarf Yaupon Holly
Ilex vomitoria 'Nana'
- Sun
- Full Sun, Part Shade
- Water
- Moderate, Drought tolerant once established
- Mature size
- 3–5 ft tall x 3–6 ft wide
- Best for
- Natural hedge, Low maintenance, Drought-tolerant Landscaping, Groundcover
3 Gallon — $30 — only 4 left
About this size
- 3 Gallon
- A larger, more established plant — more size and root system from day one.
Pay at the nursery, plus 6.75% sales tax. Send your request and we'll confirm availability and your pickup time within 24 hours, then hold your plants. How it works
Planting & care
- Growth habit
- Dense, symmetrical mounding shrub; wider than tall
- Typical bloom
- Mar–Apr
- Cold hardy to
- Zones 7–10
- Soil
- Adaptable to clay, sandy, and loam soils; prefers well-drained
Where to plant
Full sun to part shade, with well-drained soil. It adapts to clay, sand, and loam but sits poorly in soggy ground. Give it room for a mature size of 3 to 5 feet tall and 3 to 6 feet wide so it can hold its mound without regular trimming.
Watering
Water regularly through the first growing season to establish roots. Once established it tolerates drought and needs only an occasional deep watering in extended dry spells.
Cutting back
Little pruning is needed. Shear lightly in late winter, after the hardest freeze has passed, to tidy the shape or hold a formal hedge. Avoid hard cuts into bare wood, which can leave open dead patches.
About Dwarf Yaupon Holly
Dwarf Yaupon Holly is the small-scale selection of one of Texas's toughest native evergreens. It grows into a dense, symmetrical mound three to five feet tall and often wider than it is tall, with tiny, spineless, dark green leaves that open yellow-green in spring and hold their color through the coldest months. It looks finished all year long.
The fine texture is what sets it apart. Packed with small leaves and close-knit branches, it has a softness that reads almost like boxwood, with far more toughness behind it. It takes shearing well, so it works as a crisp low hedge, a border along a bed or walkway, or a rounded accent in a foundation planting. Left alone, it settles into a neat mound on its own.
Small white flowers appear in spring and draw native bees. This selection rarely, if ever, sets fruit, so there is no berry drop on patios and walkways, and deer typically leave it alone.
It also stays out of the way. It handles heat, drought once established, and heavy clay, and it keeps its compact shape without constant trimming. For a low hedge, a border, or a pair of mounds flanking a doorway, Dwarf Yaupon Holly delivers evergreen structure in a small footprint.
Where it's native
Dwarf Yaupon Holly occurs naturally in 6 Texas ecoregions — Pineywoods, Post Oak Savannah, Gulf Prairies and Marshes, Blackland Prairies, Cross Timbers and Prairies, South Texas Plains. Plants grown from local ecotypes are best adapted to our soils and climate here in the Blackland Prairies.
- 1Trans-Pecos
- 2High Plains
- 3Rolling Plains
- 4Edwards Plateau
- 5Cross Timbers and Prairies
- 6South Texas Plains
- 7Blackland Prairies
- 8Post Oak Savannah
- 9Gulf Prairies and Marshes
- 10Pineywoods
