Great Clips…Not!

One of the great un-clipped shrubs in the long history of shrubs in America is the amazing Dodd and Dodd Nursery introduction of Ilex vomitoria ‘Oscar’. Looking great in our garden this week, our plant of Oscar holly has never been clipped, sheared, or otherwise maimed in its ten-year history with us. Wouldn’t it be nice if more nurseries offered this? Wouldn’t it be nice if customers would pay more for plants like this with longer production times? Imagine the energy that would be saved if people would put the right plant in the right place and end shrub shearing for good. Hardiness north to Zone 7a.

Native green meatballs

While the focus of PDN is perennial plants, we have a strong woody plant focus in our surrounding botanic garden. A plant that’s really impressed us is a very dwarf form of our native yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria ‘Oscar’, that was shared by Mobile, Alabama plantsman Marteen VanderGiessen. This is a photo of our 9 year old parent plant that’s never been sheared, forming a very tight 30″ tall x 44″ wide ball. Just think…native green meatballs with no pruning. We think this is so amazing, we’ve propagated a few to share with you in 2019.