The Steeds holly is a dense evergreen shrub with an attractive upright pyramidal form. The lush greenery of dark green foliage adds color to a landscape year-round. It blooms small white flowers that produce berries in a black hue that persist through winter.
Its formal appearance works well for foundation planting or shapely hedges. 😊
More About Steeds Japanese Holly
The Steeds holly has lustrous deep green foliage that darkens with age but remains green year-round. In early spring, the Steeds Japanese holly blooms tiny white flowers attracting pollinators like bees to the garden.
In summer through to winter, you see black to purplish-blue berries attracting wildlife to the garden. Still, flowers and berries with attractive upright growth, green foliage, and pyramidal form remain a standout in the garden.
The botanical name for the Steeds holly is Ilex crenata Steeds, and it has many common names:
Steeds upright Japanese holly
Steeds Japanese holly
Japanese holly
If you want to have ornamental blackberries in your beautiful garden, grow the Steeds holly as a foundation plant 🌿 but you will need both the male and female hollies planted close to each other.
The female plants need the male close by for pollination to take place. ⚠️A note of warning is that the Japanese holly Steeds are invasive in certain parts of the United States.
Types of Holly
You can find several varieties of Ilex crenata to grow in your landscape:
The Dwarf Pagoda is a small cultivar that reaches two feet tall with a compact yet dense growth.
Golden Gem is a variegated cultivar with golden foliage.
Helleri is another dwarf variety with a slow growth rate reaching four feet tall to five feet wide.
Lemon Gem is another small cultivar with yellowish foliage in spring that turns to lime green when reaching mature size.
Steeds Upright Japanese Holly Care
When caring for the Steeds holly, it is important to provide a spot with good soil drainage and protection from cold winds. Once your shrubs mature, it only needs watering during dry spells. You can grow the holly plants in containers or ground.
Sunlight For Japanese Holly Steeds
For optimal growth, the holly needs full sun to part sun ☀️to thrive. In warmer climates, your trees will appreciate partial shade from the afternoon sun. But in cooler climates, it has at least six hours of direct sunlight for most of the day.
Too little light will result in a slower growth rate, making the foliage less dense.
Recommended Soil For Ilex Crenata
Whether grown in the landscape or a container, your Steeds holly needs well-drained soil. The shrub can grow in different soils, from rocky and sandy to clay, but it needs good drainage. So, if you have a lot of water 💦 that accumulates in the garden, grow your tree on raised beds instead.
The Steeds holly prefers slightly acidic soil.
Watering Steeds Japanese Holly
The shrubs prefer a moderate amount of soil moisture. Hence, it helps to keep them evenly moist but not soggy once the root system is established. The mature size shrubs can tolerate some drought to occasional flooding.
But when your Steeds holly sits in water too long, it will turn a pale green and lead to root rot. So, do your finger 👇 test the soil to see if the top few inches are dry. Add a mulch layer around your shrubs to keep the root system cool.
Steeds Holly Temperature and Humidity
These easy-to-grow plants prefer a temperate climate and do not do well in extreme heat or cold. The best spot for these evergreens is protected from winds, especially during winter. These trees also struggle in high humidity and prefer moderate levels of humidity.
Fertilizing Holly
Use a general-purpose fertilizer like a slow-release feed in spring. We recommend following the instructions on the label to determine the application needed. You can also mix in some compost around your Holly Steeds plant.
Pruning Steeds Holly
Your Steeds holly does not need minimal pruning, but you can cut them back to form a shapely hedge. The best time to prune is in spring to early fall. But the best time is at the start of the growing season.
A note of warning is to prune at least two months before the first frost in fall. You can remove damaged, diseased, and dead branches at any time. You can do light pruning a few times during the growing season to give your Ilex crenata Steeds a shape to form a hedge or topiary.
For an old holly, you can cut it down in winter to 12 inches off the ground to grow new branches.
Potting and Repotting Steeds Holly
You can grow your dwarf varieties in a container, and best to choose one that fits the root ball. You can expect to repot your evergreen shrub every three years.
The best time to do this is in spring when you give it a light prune. An ideal pot for your holly is terracotta, which evaporates excess moisture.
Please fill the container with well-drained potting soil and ensure it has enough drainage holes.
Overwintering Steeds Holly
The Steeds Japanese holly is hardy in zones five and needs no winter protection when planted in a sheltered spot from winds. But your shrubs will benefit from a layer of mulch to protect the roots. Provide your trees with an insulating silo for outside containers to protect the roots.
Propagating Steeds Japanese Holly
You can propagate your shrubs with hardwood cuttings taken in the dormant season or using seeds. But seeds from the fruit are not always a viable option. Here are the steps to root the hardwood cuttings:
Take a sharp knife to cut a branch below one of the bud unions where a leaf meets the stem.
Remove about 3/4 inch of the cutting above another bud union to end up with a six-inch long cutting.
Remove the bottom leaves and leaves some of the top dark green foliage.
Dip the cut end into a rooting hormone and plant your cutting in a pot or spot where it can receive full sun to partial sun. Plant the cutting an inch deep in coarse sand.
Water frequently keeps the soil moist, and in the growing season, it should develop new leaves to show it is rooted.
Steeds Holly Common Pests & Plant Diseases
The holly leaf miner affects the Ilex crenata Steeds in late spring. The female leaf miner will suck out the plant’s fluids in the leaves. To know if the female deposited eggs, please check the underside of the leaves for small green blisters.
Eventually, the foliage turns brown, yellow, or it can become red. Other pests are spider mites, scale, and whiteflies. You can use neem oil to treat these insects. Another concern is root rot which can happen during the wet season.
You will notice yellowing leaves and may need to amend the soil to provide added drainage.
Frequently Asked Questions
The small white flowers on the Steeds holly are non-fragrant and not consistent. The blossoms will turn to fruit in summer, and your trees can take up to three years before it blooms for the first time.
It can be that the soil has too much alkaline, resulting in an iron deficiency. To remedy the problem, you can feed your shrubs acid-loving trees or shrub fertilizers.
If you want the ornamental black berries, you will need both a male and female plant as it is dioecious.
The shrub looks similar, but it is a different species.
The Steeds Japanese holly can grow 12 inches per year and is a slow grower.
It is a relatively low-maintenance plant when grown under the right conditions.
The Steeds holly can reach an age of 50 years or more when you care for it properly.
The holly prefers growing in full to partial sun as the foliage turns pale green when grown in the shade.
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