Details

Soft Touch Japanese Holly is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting birds and bees to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Soft Touch Japanese Holly is recommended for the following landscape applications:

  • Mass Planting
  • Hedges/Screening
  • General Garden Use
  • Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Features

Soft Touch Japanese Holly is primarily grown for its highly ornamental fruit. It features an abundance of magnificent black berries in mid fall. It has attractive dark green foliage with pointy silver spines. The small glossy oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter. The flowers are not ornamentally significant.

Care

Planting & Growing

Soft Touch Japanese Holly will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It has a low canopy. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for rich, acidic soils. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Attracts Birds, Pollinators
Family Holly
Flower Color White
Bloom Time Late Spring to Early Summer
Foliage Color Green
Genus Ilex
Growth Rate Medium
Hardiness Zone 5b
Landscape Uses Massing, Screening, Garden, Naturalizing
Light Needs Full Sun, Partial Shade
Mature Height 3 feet
Mature Width 3 feet
Prune Time Late Winter Pruning
Water Needs Moist to Wet