[IBC] Ilex vomitoria "Schilling's dwarf" Yaupon holly; miniature hedge q's
Hello, I purchased eight Ilex vomitoria "Schilling's dwarf" Yaupon holly plants to use as a miniature hedge underneath my oak trees. I live in the hot, tropical part of Florida. When I got home, I noticed the tag said "full sun," something I did not notice while in the store. First, has anyone here had any luck growing Schilling's Yaupon holly in partial or complete shade? I have read that it "grows best in full sun," but where I live, we have plants that say they take "full sun," but actually grow better in partial shade because the sun is very intense here. This isn't really an appropriate topic for a bonsai list (you might try rec.gardens), but . . . They'll do fine in anything but DEEP shade and they'll probably survive there but will be quite thin and leggy. Second, would this be a hard plant to keep trimmed to approximately one foot high, one foot wide, and three feet long? I am not an expert hedger/trimmer, so I have a lot to learn. (Two shapes I have considered: (a) a rounded one-foot-by-one-foot; (b) a one-foot-high by one-foot-high by three-foot-long oval) Ugly, but they'll survive -- boxwood might have been better (and cheaper). Third, I am wondering if planting this so closely to my live oak trees (the dwarf holly will be a hedge encircling the oaks) will damage or encroach on the oaks. I have read that this type of holly has a hardy, widespread root system. The holly is more likely to suffer than the oak. If these are large oaks, you MAY find that you have a very hard time digging holes for these plants because oak roots are thick and always so close to the surface. Digging the holes and cutting the oak roots could damage the oak if it is smallish. Fourth, is the plant easily contained within a specified growing area? I would like to easily keep it contained with clippers. If it tends to creep and spread underground and slowly take over my lawn, I wouldn't be too happy with it. (I don't want to end up fighting to eradicate it from my lawn.) I Vimitoria doesn't spread invasively, and since the Schillings doesn't flower or fruit you won't have seeding problems. "Easily" is another matter. Hedges are very high maintenance. Instructions are to plant the plants four feet apart. If I want to keep them at a dwarf size of one-foot-wide by one-foot-high, what happens if I plant them closer together; say, two feet apart? You have more holes to dig. If there are better choices for a miniature hedge underneath my oaks, I would be open to suggestions. I have heard of a type of Japanese boxwood with a serrated, very tiny leaf, but do not know the species or if it even exists. B. microphylla 'Kingsville dwarf', but if you need a hedge, this'll be fine -- especially since you've already bought them. Though I must say, 8 plants doesn't sound like much of a "hedge." But please remember the rec.gardens newsgroup when you have general gardening questions like these. Jim Lewis - - This economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. - Gaylord Nelson ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
[IBC] Ilex vomitoria "Schilling's dwarf" Yaupon holly; miniature hedge q's
"X-No-archive: yes"
Thank you, Jim, for all of your advice and comments. I posted the original here because, when I did a search under Google Groups, the bonzai group was the only one that I could pull up any answers/topics on this plant. It sounded like the bonzai group was the most familiar with this plant. You gave me a lot of sound advice, and I appreciate it. I will post my questions about this plant to the general gardening group in the future. Thank you for your indepth comments. At this point, based on your answers, I am not so sure I will keep these hedge plants and will probably return them. I want what my neighbor has ... but I have been unable to determine exactly what he has. He says it is a Japanese boxwood, but the leaves on his plants are not small and round like the local Japanese boxwood I have seen for sale; instead the leaves on his are small and serrated, so I need to do some research. I will take all future questions to the general gardening group ... thank you! Take care. |
[IBC] Ilex vomitoria "Schilling's dwarf" Yaupon holly; miniature hedge q's
Hi John,
An addendum to my last message: I took a look at the rec. garden newsgroups, and most of them are for specialties such as bamboo, bonzai and roses. There was only one nonspecialty group, and it was filled mostly with spam. Another group, called simply "garden," seems to be mostly inactive. This could be why, when I googled for my plant term, that it only came up under this news group. I hope I can find another group that is as active as this one. This one seems filled with helpful, friendly people. I will keep my fingers crossed ... Now that I imagine it could be difficult to get answers to these questions elsewhere, I wanted to thank you doubly for taking the time to respond. |
[IBC] Ilex vomitoria "Schilling's dwarf" Yaupon holly; miniature hedge q's
Hello, I purchased eight Ilex vomitoria "Schilling's dwarf" Yaupon holly plants to use as a miniature hedge underneath my oak trees. I live in the hot, tropical part of Florida. When I got home, I noticed the tag said "full sun," something I did not notice while in the store. First, has anyone here had any luck growing Schilling's Yaupon holly in partial or complete shade? I have read that it "grows best in full sun," but where I live, we have plants that say they take "full sun," but actually grow better in partial shade because the sun is very intense here. This isn't really an appropriate topic for a bonsai list (you might try rec.gardens), but . . . They'll do fine in anything but DEEP shade and they'll probably survive there but will be quite thin and leggy. Second, would this be a hard plant to keep trimmed to approximately one foot high, one foot wide, and three feet long? I am not an expert hedger/trimmer, so I have a lot to learn. (Two shapes I have considered: (a) a rounded one-foot-by-one-foot; (b) a one-foot-high by one-foot-high by three-foot-long oval) Ugly, but they'll survive -- boxwood might have been better (and cheaper). Third, I am wondering if planting this so closely to my live oak trees (the dwarf holly will be a hedge encircling the oaks) will damage or encroach on the oaks. I have read that this type of holly has a hardy, widespread root system. The holly is more likely to suffer than the oak. If these are large oaks, you MAY find that you have a very hard time digging holes for these plants because oak roots are thick and always so close to the surface. Digging the holes and cutting the oak roots could damage the oak if it is smallish. Fourth, is the plant easily contained within a specified growing area? I would like to easily keep it contained with clippers. If it tends to creep and spread underground and slowly take over my lawn, I wouldn't be too happy with it. (I don't want to end up fighting to eradicate it from my lawn.) I Vimitoria doesn't spread invasively, and since the Schillings doesn't flower or fruit you won't have seeding problems. "Easily" is another matter. Hedges are very high maintenance. Instructions are to plant the plants four feet apart. If I want to keep them at a dwarf size of one-foot-wide by one-foot-high, what happens if I plant them closer together; say, two feet apart? You have more holes to dig. If there are better choices for a miniature hedge underneath my oaks, I would be open to suggestions. I have heard of a type of Japanese boxwood with a serrated, very tiny leaf, but do not know the species or if it even exists. B. microphylla 'Kingsville dwarf', but if you need a hedge, this'll be fine -- especially since you've already bought them. Though I must say, 8 plants doesn't sound like much of a "hedge." But please remember the rec.gardens newsgroup when you have general gardening questions like these. Jim Lewis - - This economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. - Gaylord Nelson ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
[IBC] Ilex vomitoria "Schilling's dwarf" Yaupon holly; miniature hedge q's
Hi John,
An addendum to my last message: I took a look at the rec. garden newsgroups, and most of them are for specialties such as bamboo, bonzai and roses. There was only one nonspecialty group, and it was filled mostly with spam. Another group, called simply "garden," seems to be mostly inactive. This could be why, when I googled for my plant term, that it only came up under this news group. I hope I can find another group that is as active as this one. This one seems filled with helpful, friendly people. I will keep my fingers crossed ... Now that I imagine it could be difficult to get answers to these questions elsewhere, I wanted to thank you doubly for taking the time to respond. |
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