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Home » Gardening » The Perfect Evergreen for a Heavily Shaded Area.

The Perfect Evergreen for a Heavily Shaded Area.

Updated : December 10, 2019

7 Comments

Ilex Green Lustre Japanese Holly

The current images on this page are not great because I took them of plants growing wild in a very heavily wooded area on my property. But I will explain why I decided to use them.

Years ago when I first started landscaping houses in 1979 one of my favorite go to plants, an evergreen that I used in almost every design that I did was Japanese Holly. There are a lot of different Japanese Hollies with Ilex Hetzi being one of the most popular. But I don’t usually put Hetzi in an area close to the house because they tend to get too big too fast. So my favorite Japanese Holly is Ilex Crenata ‘Green Lustre’.

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This plant is spindly because it is growing wild and has never been pruned.

Japanese hollies are notorious for their glossy, dark green leaves that are not flat, but somewhat curved. All though Green Lustre holly can get as large as 4′ by 4′, they can also be easily trimmed to a much smaller size.

What prompted me to write is article is that I was out back trying to clean up the wooded area on my property and I kept seeing all of these what appeared to be Ilex crenata ‘Green Lustre’ holly bushes growing in a scattered pattern in my woods. Obviously distributed there from seeds dropped from birds or maybe even other animals that eat the berries.

Click here for a better photo of this plant.

But what really caught my attention was that these evergreens, grown from seed, completely untrimmed, actually looked pretty good given the fact that they were growing in dense shade.

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And that’s when I dawned on me that I should be growing Ilex crenata ‘Green Lustre’ for that very reason. People are always asking for great plants for shade! My discovery is living proof that this evergreen can thrive in shade and with a bit of pruning, unlike the ones in my woods, they can be beautiful.

This plant attracts song birds because in mid fall this plant is loaded with black berries that the birds love!

Ilex crenata ‘Green Lustre’ is hardy in zones 4B through zone 8.

This is another one of those plants that is disappearing from American landscapes being replaced by new introductions that are patented or carry trademarked names. Our job as backyard growers is to make sure these beautiful never become extinct.

So now I have to find a few as stock plants so I can start propagating them. Propagation is easy, you can do them in summer this way; https://mikesbackyardnursery.com/mikes-plant-propagation-kit/, or do them in the Winter as Hardwood Cuttings. As hardwood cuttings they will be quite slow to root where the summer cuttings should root in about 6 weeks.

Questions, comments, mean things to say? Post them below.

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Comments

  1. Marilee Peters says

    April 20, 2022 at 6:16 pm

    Hi Mike, We have had 3 Holly bush for around 15 years and have noticed patches of brown dried leaves on one bush. We have never fertilized these bushes. Should we cut out this area or fertilize? Thank you for your time

    Reply
    • Mike says

      April 21, 2022 at 8:26 am

      Marilee,

      I’d just remove the brown leaves. I rarely if ever fertilize plants in a landscape. Never have and mine have always been beautiful.

      Reply
      • marilee says

        April 21, 2022 at 11:58 am

        thanks, appreciate your site

        Reply
  2. Charlie Llamas says

    January 9, 2021 at 9:29 am

    Mike have you started compiling a list of cuttings or your trees plants that you will be selling and shipping this up coming spring.

    I happened across on of your videos a week ago and have be binge watching all videos. This seemed doable since I have the time and space to have a small backyard gardening business.

    I a retired veteran and federal employee and must, in this economic, in need to subsidize my retirement.

    Thank you for what you, your wife, and employees do to help, assist, and guidance to everyone.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      January 10, 2021 at 10:44 am

      Charlie,

      You are welcome. I will not be shipping plants, that’s not something that I do, but we have dozens if not hundreds of members that do. http://backyardgrowers.com/join. Our members sell these plants at true wholesale prices but they will sell you small quantities. Our test drive membership is only $7.00. It’s worth at least trying for 30 days. http://backyardgrowers.com/join

      Reply
      • Juan Moreno says

        January 10, 2021 at 10:19 pm

        Hello Mike,

        I am another individual that has stumbled across your youtube videos and have been binge watching them as well. I am very interested in joining your group but am still waiting for the membership to open up. How can I be sure not to miss the opportunity once it does open up?

        Reply
        • Mike says

          January 11, 2021 at 6:38 am

          Juan,

          Membership will open on January 21, 2021 and will probably be open for at least 3 weeks. Just mark your calendar and make sure you are on our mailing list. But I think Duston only mails membership info to those that have purchased our backyard growing system. http://backyardgrowers.com/join

          Reply

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