Holly ‘Blue Princess’

Common name: Holly ‘Blue Princess’

* Botanical name: Ilex x meserveae ‘Blue Princess’

* What it is: A broad-leaf evergreen with stiff, spiny leaves of dark green with a blue undertone. ‘Blue Princess’ is a female that also gets clusters of bright red, pea-sized berries in fall and winter.

* Size: 8 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide in 15 years. Can be kept smaller by pruning.

* Where to use: Colorful mid-sized evergreen screen plant along borders or around patios. Also will fill in under limbed-up trees to make a solid screen. Plan to prune regularly if used in foundation planting. Full sun to part shade.

* Care: To get fruits, male ‘Blue Prince’ or ‘Blue Stallion’ is needed within about 400 feet (one per five or so females). Keep damp the first season, then water usually not needed. Scatter organic, granular, acidifying fertilizer such as Holly-tone or Holly-Care around base in spring. Hollies tolerate shearing in spring or summer but look best when thinned and shortened branch-by-branch with hand-pruners. Also ideal for Christmas cuttings.