Plant of the Week: December 18, 2025
My first job when I moved back to Texas was as Dallas County Extension horticulturist. I had an advisory committee, and one of my members was Steve Dodd Sr., former president of what was then called the Texas Association of Nurserymen. He was a great leader of his industry and a fine mentor for me. A wonderful supporter.
When Lynn and I bought our first house in December 1970, Steve gave us as our housewarming gift a tree-form Nellie R. Stevens holly. He referred to it as “one of the greatest new shrubs to hit the nursery trade ever.”
I planted that little single-trunk tree at the corner of our house in Farmers Branch, and I went back to say, “Hi!” for decades. It continued to thrive. I need to go back to see it again to see if it’s still getting love.
About that same time, I saw a mature specimen on the grounds at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It was 18 ft. tall and 12 ft. wide, and it was magnificent. I knew then that Steve was right.
What I didn’t know was that this plant was a comparative newcomer. I did some detailed research as to its origin and I have here the fine tunings on what I’ve always read.
• A school teacher by the name of Nellie Robinson Stevens, a devoted gardener, visited the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington D.C. in the late 1890s. She was given seeds for Chinese holly (Ilex cornuta) which she planted in her Maplehurst Gardens in Oxford, Maryland.
• Her Chinese holly seedlings germinated and grew beside a female English holly (Ilex aquifolium) she already had in her holly-rich gardens.
• Although she was not a plant breeder, the two species did the work for her, and the result was a lovely large holly that grew unnamed in her garden for many years.
• Local nurserymen saw this holly and its outstanding performance. One of them, G.A. Van Lennep, named the plant in recognition of Nellie R. Stevens. He also found that it was easily propagated from cuttings. He is credited with introducing it to the nursery industry, although it remained primarily in the mid-Atlantic area for 20 or 30 years.
By the 1930s it was a popular plant in the East and Southeast. By the 1940s and 50s it had moved into the South. By the 1960s it was becoming a staple item in Texas and the Southwest. The rest is now horticultural history.
Reasons for its popularity surge:
Nellie R. Stevens holly took a while to reach a pinnacle of popularity. That’s not uncommon with new plants in the market. Harsh winters in the 1970s killed waxleaf ligustrums and many other popular mid-sized and tall landscaping plants across Texas. Meanwhile, Nellie R. Stevens hollies stood strong.
Consider these attributes…
• Comparatively rapid growth
• Right size for tall screens (8-15 ft.)
• Handsome pyramidal shape
• Winter hardy and well adapted to Texas summers
• Deep green, evergreen foliage
• Very large bright crimson-red fruit that is retained all winter long
• Suited to sun or shade
• Tolerant of almost all soils
• Very few insect or disease pests
• From a nursery grower’s standpoint, easily propagated
• Available in a wide range of container sizes, so you can have just about any size that you want.
Two notes to consider when planting…
1. Determine how tall you will be allowing your plants to grow at maturity, then space them 2/3 that far apart in their planting rows. So, as example, if they’re going to grow to 12 ft., plant them 8 ft. apart.
2. Water new Nellie R. Stevens hollies (and all other hollies) by hand for their first couple of years. Their dark green, leathery leaves don’t wilt, so most gardeners don’t recognize when they’re getting too dry. They let them pass the “permanent wilting point,” at which point there’s no way to save them.