Overview

Introduce lasting elegance to your outdoor spaces with the Dragon Lady Holly live plant. This exquisite evergreen shrub, scientifically known as Ilex aquifolium ‘Dragon Lady’, is a highly sought-after specimen for its striking appearance and robust nature. You will receive one healthy Dragon Lady Holly live plant, carefully grown in a quart pot, ready for direct outdoor planting. Celebrated for its dense, glossy dark green foliage that remains vibrant throughout the year, this holly cultivar also produces an abundance of brilliant red berries in the winter months, offering a spectacular contrast against the snow or dormant landscape. Whether used as a focal point, a hedge, or part of a mixed border, this plant promises to deliver consistent beauty and structural interest to any garden setting, making it a perfect choice for those seeking a reliable and attractive evergreen solution.

The Dragon Lady Holly live plant is an excellent choice for gardeners looking for low-maintenance yet high-impact plants. Its upright, pyramidal growth habit makes it suitable for various landscape designs, from formal gardens to more naturalized settings. Even when dormant in winter, its lush leaves and vibrant berries ensure your garden retains color and life during the colder seasons. This young Holly seedling is ready to establish itself and become a cherished part of your garden for years to come, providing shelter and food for local wildlife, particularly birds attracted to its winter berries.

Key Benefits

The Dragon Lady Holly live plant offers a multitude of advantages for any gardener, blending aesthetic appeal with practical resilience. Its outstanding features contribute significantly to a beautiful and thriving garden environment.

• Year-Round Evergreen Foliage: This holly maintains its glossy, dark green leaves throughout all seasons, ensuring your garden always has a foundation of lush color, even in the depths of winter. The consistent greenery provides a vital backdrop for other seasonal plants.
• Vibrant Winter Berries: As temperatures drop, the Dragon Lady Holly live plant becomes adorned with an abundance of bright red berries. These decorative accents not only provide a festive touch but also serve as an important food source for birds, enhancing garden biodiversity.
• Low-Maintenance & Adaptable: Known for its ease of care, this plant is an excellent choice for both novice and experienced gardeners. Once established, it requires minimal attention, tolerating a range of soil types and light conditions, making Dragon Lady Holly care straightforward.
• Architectural Interest: With its naturally upright and somewhat pyramidal growth habit, this evergreen holly shrub adds strong vertical elements and structural definition to your landscape. It can be used to create formal hedges, privacy screens, or as a stately specimen plant.
• Hardy & Resilient: Thriving in USDA Zones 6–9, the Dragon Lady Holly is remarkably cold-hardy and adaptable to various climates. It withstands different weather conditions, ensuring long-term health and vitality in your garden.
• Wildlife Attraction: The bright red berries are a magnet for local bird species, especially during winter when other food sources are scarce. Planting this holly contributes to supporting local wildlife and brings natural activity to your garden.
• Versatile Landscape Use: Perfect for home gardens, larger landscape projects, or even container planting when young, its adaptability allows it to fit into diverse planting schemes and design preferences.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Proper Dragon Lady Holly care ensures a thriving, beautiful plant that enhances your garden for many years. This resilient evergreen holly shrub is relatively low-maintenance, but understanding its specific needs will help it reach its full potential. For optimal growth and berry production, choose a location that receives full sun to partial shade. Full sun (at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily) will generally lead to the most abundant berry set, while partial shade (2-4 hours of direct sun, especially afternoon shade in hot climates) is also well-tolerated. Ensure the soil is well-drained, as hollies do not tolerate consistently wet feet. A slightly acidic to neutral soil pH (5.5-7.0) is ideal, but they are quite adaptable.

When planting your Dragon Lady Holly live plant, dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball and just as deep. Gently remove the plant from its quart pot, loosen any circling roots, and place it in the hole so that the top of the root ball is level with the surrounding soil. Backfill with a mixture of native soil and compost to enrich the soil and improve drainage. Water thoroughly after planting to settle the soil around the roots. During its establishment period (the first year or two), water regularly to keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged. Once established, it is relatively drought-tolerant but will benefit from occasional deep watering during prolonged dry spells. Fertilize in early spring with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer formulated for acid-loving plants. Pruning is generally minimal, focusing on removing dead or diseased branches and shaping as desired, typically done in late winter or early spring before new growth emerges. This care routine will ensure a vibrant and healthy winter berry plant.

Size & Details

Each offering includes one healthy Dragon Lady Holly live plant, carefully cultivated and shipped in a quart-sized pot, making it ready for immediate outdoor planting upon arrival. These are young, vigorous seedlings with established root systems, poised for growth in your garden. The plant’s initial size will vary slightly depending on the growth stage and time of year, but it is typically a manageable size for easy handling and transport. The Dragon Lady Holly is known for its upright, pyramidal growth habit, maturing into a substantial evergreen holly shrub. When fully mature, this plant can reach an impressive height of 10 to 15 feet with a spread of 4 to 6 feet, forming a dense and stately presence in the landscape. Its growth rate is moderate, allowing it to establish and fill out within a few years.

The plant may arrive dormant during colder months, which is a natural stage of its life cycle and not indicative of poor health. During dormancy, it will retain its signature evergreen foliage, but new growth and berry development will resume as temperatures warm in spring. The vibrant red berries, a hallmark of the Ilex aquifolium Dragon Lady, typically develop in late summer and persist through winter, providing extended ornamental appeal. This resilient plant is suitable for various landscaping applications, from creating natural barriers to serving as an elegant specimen plant, offering a robust and attractive solution for adding year-round interest to your garden.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: What size is the Dragon Lady Holly plant when shipped? A: You will receive one Dragon Lady Holly live plant shipped in a quart-sized pot. While the exact height may vary, it is a young seedling with a well-established root system, ready for planting.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: The Dragon Lady Holly live plant is an outdoor evergreen shrub, ideal for garden and landscape use. It is not typically grown as an indoor houseplant.
• Q: How much sunlight does the Dragon Lady Holly need? A: For best growth and berry production, this evergreen holly shrub thrives in full sun (at least 6 hours of direct sunlight) to partial shade (2-4 hours of direct sun, especially in hot climates).
• Q: What condition will the plant arrive in? A: Your Dragon Lady Holly live plant will arrive securely packaged in its quart pot. It may be dormant during colder months, which is normal. It will begin active growth and berry development as temperatures rise.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: Yes, Dragon Lady Holly care is considered low-maintenance. Once established, it is adaptable and resilient, requiring moderate watering during establishment and occasional feeding.
• Q: When is the best time to plant this holly? A: The best time to plant your Dragon Lady Holly live plant is typically in spring or early fall, allowing the roots to establish before extreme summer heat or winter cold.
• Q: What USDA Hardiness Zones is this plant suitable for? A: The Dragon Lady Holly live plant is hardy in USDA Zones 6 through 9, making it suitable for a wide range of temperate climates.
• Q: How tall does the Dragon Lady Holly grow? A: At maturity, the Ilex aquifolium Dragon Lady can reach a height of 10 to 15 feet with a spread of 4 to 6 feet, developing an upright, pyramidal shape.
• Q: Does this plant produce berries? A: Yes, the Dragon Lady Holly is known for producing abundant, bright red berries in winter, which are a beautiful feature and attract birds, making it an excellent winter berry plant.
• Q: What kind of soil does it prefer? A: This holly prefers well-drained soil that is slightly acidic to neutral. Good drainage is crucial to prevent root rot.