Overview

Introduce timeless elegance and year-round interest to your outdoor space with the Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub. This robust and beautiful live plant is celebrated for its dense, glossy deep green foliage that maintains its vibrant color throughout the seasons, even enduring summer heat and mild drought conditions. As winter approaches, the shrub adorns itself with a spectacular display of bright red berries, providing crucial visual appeal and a food source for local wildlife when other plants are dormant. Ideal for a variety of landscape applications, the Nellie R. Stevens plant is a popular choice for creating majestic hedges, effective privacy screens, or as a striking standalone specimen. This offering includes one healthy Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub seedling, typically 6-12 inches tall in a 2.5 inch pot, ready for planting.

Known for its rapid growth and adaptability, this evergreen shrub is a low-maintenance solution for gardeners seeking both beauty and functionality. Its ability to thrive in a range of conditions makes it a favorite among both novice and experienced gardeners. Whether you’re looking to define a garden border, block an unsightly view, or simply add a touch of classic charm, the Nellie R. Stevens is an exceptional choice that delivers enduring beauty.

Key Benefits

The Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub offers a multitude of advantages for your garden and landscape design, making it a highly valued ornamental plant:

• Year-Round Visual Appeal: Enjoy dense, deep green foliage that remains vibrant throughout all four seasons, providing consistent color and structure to your garden. This evergreen quality ensures your landscape looks lush even in winter.
• Striking Winter Berries: Experience a beautiful natural display of bright red berries during the colder months, adding a festive touch and attracting birds, enhancing biodiversity in your yard.
• Excellent for Hedges and Privacy: Its vigorous growth and dense habit make it an ideal candidate for creating effective and attractive privacy screens, windbreaks, or formal hedges, establishing clear boundaries with elegance.
• Drought Tolerant Once Established: This resilient Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub can withstand periods of dry weather once its root system is mature, reducing the need for constant watering and making it a sustainable landscape choice.
• Adaptable to Various Light Conditions: Thrives in both full sun and partial shade, offering flexibility in planting locations across your garden. This adaptability helps ensure successful growth in different garden aspects.
• Low Maintenance: Once established, it requires minimal care, making it a perfect choice for gardeners who desire a beautiful landscape without extensive upkeep. Pruning is primarily for shaping or maintaining desired size.
• Supports Wildlife: The abundant red berries serve as a valuable food source for birds and other small wildlife during winter, contributing to the ecological health of your garden.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Caring for your Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub is straightforward, ensuring a healthy and thriving plant for years to come. Begin by selecting a planting site that offers full sun to partial shade, meaning at least 4-6 hours of direct sunlight daily. The soil should be well-drained to prevent root rot, as these shrubs do not tolerate consistently wet feet. Amend heavy clay soils with organic matter like compost to improve drainage and aeration. When planting your Nellie R. Stevens plant, dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball and just as deep. Gently remove the seedling from its 2.5 inch pot, loosen any circling roots, and place it in the hole, ensuring the top of the root ball is level with the soil surface. Backfill with soil, gently tamping down to remove air pockets, and water thoroughly.

During the establishment period, typically the first year, water moderately and regularly to encourage a strong root system. Once established, the Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub becomes quite drought tolerant, requiring less frequent watering. However, in prolonged dry spells, supplemental watering will be beneficial. This shrub is hardy in USDA Zones 6-9, making it suitable for a wide range of climates. Fertilize in early spring with a balanced, slow-release granular fertilizer formulated for trees and shrubs. Pruning is best done in late winter or early spring before new growth emerges, or in summer after the berries have faded. You can prune for shaping, to maintain a desired size, or to encourage a denser habit. To promote fuller growth, especially when used as a evergreen shrub for hedges, consider clipping leader shoots. Keep an eye out for common pests and diseases, though the Nellie R. Stevens is generally quite resistant.

Size & Details

This offering is for one live Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub seedling, carefully cultivated and shipped to ensure optimal health upon arrival. Each seedling typically stands between 6 to 12 inches tall, measured from the top of the root ball, and comes planted in a sturdy 2.5-inch nursery pot. The foliage is a consistent deep green year-round, with the promise of bright red berries developing in winter months. As a vigorous grower, this shrub can reach an impressive mature height of 15 to 25 feet if left to grow naturally, with a similar spread, creating a substantial presence in your landscape. It is an outdoor plant, performing best when given ample space to develop its natural form. The growth rate is steady, allowing for fairly quick establishment of a beautiful hedge or screen. This particular specimen is perfect for immediate planting in your garden or a larger container, serving as an excellent foundation for creating a robust privacy screen plant.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big does this plant get? A: The Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub can grow quite large, typically reaching 15-25 feet tall and wide when mature and left untrimmed. Regular pruning can maintain it at a smaller, more manageable size for specific landscape needs.
• Q: What size pot does it come in? A: This offering includes one live seedling in a 2.5-inch nursery pot. The plant itself will be approximately 6-12 inches tall upon arrival, ready for transplanting.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: The Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub is primarily an outdoor plant. It thrives in garden settings, suitable for hedges, privacy screens, and landscape accents.
• Q: How much sunlight does it need? A: It performs best in full sun to partial shade, ideally receiving at least 4-6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Too much shade can result in less dense foliage and fewer berries.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: Yes, the Nellie R. Stevens plant is considered relatively easy to care for once established. It’s drought-tolerant and adaptable to various soil conditions, making it a good choice for gardeners of all experience levels.
• Q: What condition will it arrive in? A: Your red berry shrub seedling will arrive as a live plant, carefully packaged to ensure its health. During winter dormancy, it may arrive without new growth or appear less vibrant, which is normal and does not affect its health.
• Q: Can it be used as a privacy screen? A: Absolutely! Its dense foliage and vigorous growth habit make it an excellent choice for creating a robust and attractive privacy screen plant or a tall hedge.
• Q: What’s the minimum temperature it can tolerate? A: This shrub is hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 6-9, meaning it can tolerate winter temperatures down to -10°F (-23°C) when established.
• Q: When is the best time to plant? A: Spring or early fall are generally the best times to plant the Nellie R. Stevens evergreen shrub, allowing it to establish its root system before extreme summer heat or winter cold.
• Q: Does this shrub produce flowers? A: While it does produce small, inconspicuous white flowers in spring, its primary ornamental value comes from its evergreen foliage and the vibrant red berries that follow in winter.