AMERICAN HOLLY 
SELECTING THE PLACE TO PLANT YOUR HOLLY 
American Holly is most easily grown along the coast and up the great river valleys. 
With a bit of wind protection and care, it may be grown on the plains and in the northern 
forest regions. Holly grows naturally almost a mile high in the mountains. Here Nature 
has made it as much at home as on the seacoast. Holly does its best high in the mountains 
when planted in natural shelter, such as a hemlock grove and when its roots are covered 
with a thick layer of leafmold. Such ravines are its natural habitat, with lots of water 
available to the roots from seepage in the rock layers. 
Thus the success of growing holly in very cold or extreme climates is to make it at 
home by shelter from wind, by natural soil (leafmold) and by watering when needed. 
Holly does not like limestone or alkali soils, but will grow in them if leafmold is added 
each year to sour the soil. 
Hollies should not be planted too near big maples or other large shade trees that 
draw large amounts of water and nutriment from the soil surrounding them. Hollies planted 
closer than twenty feet from large shade trees often look sickly because their roots are 
unsuccessfully trying to compete with the larger trees. 
PLANTING THE HOLLY 
Hollies should be planted in soil that grows other things well and should be planted 
within reach of your hose. 
It is wise to dig a large hole, one of at least twice the size and depth of the root ball. 
The earth which has been dug from the hole should be mixed with Oak Leafmold, or 
any sour leafmold that is well crumbled. 
Measure the depth of the root ball and fill the hole with the leafmold-soil mixture until, 
by your yardstick, the top of the ball would be an inch or so below the original ground sur- 
face when it is set in. 
Place the ball in the hole and fill up part way with the earth leafmold mixture. Water 
well and fill the remainder of the hole with the leafmold earth mixture. After the earth 
has settled around the tree, fill it to level again with pure Oak Leafmold. 
With what is left of the soil mixture, form a continuous dike a few inches high just 
under the outermost tips of the branches, all the way around the tree. This dike will allow 
you to put many gallons of water on the tree without its running off. Soaking the tree with 
gallons and gallons of water once in ten days is worth far more than a sprinkling twice a day. 
Many people leave a low dike around their hollies permanently. It is almost invisible 
if grassed and kent just under the branches. 
FERTILIZING THE HOLLY 
To be avoided are garden or commercial fertilizers, lime, bone meal, very fresh manure. 
A sour base fertilizer should be used for Holly. Most Holly growers sell such fertilizers 
especially for Holly. You can make your own much more economically if the ingredients 
are easy for you to obtain. One-half of your home mixture should be composed of tobacco 
stems or dust. The other half may be cottonseed meal, castor pomace or old cow manure. 
The following directions apply only to this homemade mixture: Applications should be 
made early spring and early fall. A handful for babies, a quart for knee high trees, a 
gallon for head high Hollies and a bucket full for trees you look up at. Double these 
amounts may be used for trees that have not had fertilizer for a long time. 
The fertilizer should be spread around the tree evenly on the ground under the branches. 
If the surface of the ground is hard and packed, it would be wise to spread a layer of Oak 
Leafmold as a mulch on top of the fertilizer. This will keep moisture in and heat and cold out. 
PRUNING THE HOLLY 
Large Hollies are benefited greatly by cutting of greens for Christmas. Holly that is in 
good health evidently has a good root system that can easily support its branches. If a 
few branches are cut off, the root therefore has less top to support and when it sends out 
new foliage next spring, that new foliage will be all the more vigorous. 
Hollies which have been recently dug from a good nursery should look very little 
different after the moving than before. Hollies improperly dug or Hollies which have 
had many roots cut in the digging will in many cases look much worse the year follow- 
ing moving than they did previous to the moving. This is because there is insufficient root 
to maintain the top foliage. By pruning such sick Hollies heavily, the balance is main- 
tained between ‘cut root’ and “pruned top.” Hollies thus pruned will look much bet- 
ter the following year and will put out vigorous new growth. 
