Early this spring a client asked me to plant our Nellie Stevens Holly trees to form a privacy screen at his place in Oxford, Maryland. Wow!! Oxford, Maryland, home of the original Nellie Stevens Holly, is where ~ 100 years ago, gardener Nellie R. Stevens experimented with holly cross-breeding and cultivated a new variety that carries … Continue reading Home of the Original Nellie Stevens Holly
The Nellie Stevens is denser than most upright pyramidal hollies. It responds well to pruning, creating additional lateral tip buds at each pruning cut. Nellie Stevens hollies tolerate wet feet well. At our evergreen tree farm in Damascus, Maryland, the clay soils are often super saturated through the winter but the Nellie Stevens holly is able to grow in these conditions.
Today we also use holly trees to create beautiful living fences for year round privacy screening. The holly trees can be trimmed a bit during the holiday season so you can make your own wreath or kissing ball. Or, you can go eco friendly by using a live holly tree as your holiday tree, then plant it in your yard afterwards.
It is very IMPORTANT that you FREQUENTLY check the soil moisture content at the base of each evergreen tree.
Thirty years ago, in 1989, I bought a soybean field in Montgomery County, Maryland, to start the home of the Living Fence, an evergreen tree farm. Our contracting company, Earth Beautiful, Inc had been up and running for 9 years by then. Having already planted an enormous amount of evergreens for privacy screening at our … Continue reading Local Evergreen Tree Farm Celebrates 30 Years!
The late spring is the time every year when the Nellie Stevens holly creates new berries. The hollies are cross pollinated by the bees. Hollies that have pollinated flowers will develop small green berries that will grow and become red in the fall.
This time of year is when the Nellie Stevens Holly casts off any damaged leaves from last year, those are the yellow leaves you see falling to the ground.
Statistically, homes with natural privacy screening tend to sell quicker than homes with undesirable views and, for a higher price. Ecofriendly buyers love natural living fence screening
The evergreen privacy fence of Holly trees drops some of their leaves in the spring and it's flower production, if pollinated by the bees, produces the berries.
Nice crowd at The Maryland Home and Garden show at the Timonium fairgrounds. It was great to meet 2 of the Pryor's Nursery VIP show ticket contest winners! And of course, 100s of people interested in privacy screening for their home inquired about the living fence. We had a sample of our evergreen trees at the show for everyone to see. The 7ft Green Giants ,10 ft tall Green Giant, a 7 ft Nellie Stevens Holly and a Leyland Cypress were on display in our show booth.
