Living Fences™ are made of ornamental evergreens such as Hollies, Leyland Cypress and Green Giant Arborvitae. Instead of using hard goods such as metal or wood fences for screens in the landscape, these natural barriers create privacy, shade and closure to your landscape. Evergreens are an excellent biomass filter, producing oxygen and helping to reduce your carbon footprint.
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 is where, about 100 years ago, gardener Nellie Stevens experimented with holly cross breeding and created a new variety which carries her name today. The trip to the … Continue reading Maryland: Home of the Original Nellie Stevens Holly
Why do I like the Nellie Stevens Holly ...let me count the ways. 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 … Continue reading Nellie Stevens Holly