Characteristics
| Hardiness zone | 5b |
|---|---|
| Foliage type | evergreen |
| Plant form | pyramidal |
| Mature height | 18 feet |
| Spread | 10 feet |
| Light requirements | full sun to partial shade |
| Moisture requirements | moist |
| Plant origin | hybrid |
Savannah Holly
Botanical name: Ilex x attenuata ‘Savannah’
This hybrid is a pyramidal to columnar broadleaf evergreen tree-holly with spiny green foliage and an abundance of showy red berries in winter; needs a male pollenator nearby to set fruit.
Ornamental Features
Savannah Holly is primarily grown for its highly ornamental fruit. It features an abundance of magnificent red berries from mid fall to late winter. It has dark green foliage which emerges yellow in spring. The spiny pointy leaves remain dark green throughout the winter. The flowers are not ornamentally significant.
Landscape Attributes
Savannah Holly is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a distinctive and refined pyramidal form. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Savannah Holly is recommended for the following landscape applications;
Accent, Mass Planting, Hedges/Screening, General Garden Use
Planting and Growing
Savannah Holly will grow to be about 18 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more. This is a female variety of the species which requires a male selection of the same species growing nearby in order to set fruit.
This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the leaves in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.
