Let these evergreens anchor your landscape

Live oak.
Photo | Judy Weaver

By Brenda Bolton, Mobile County Master Gardener / mobilecountymastergardeners.org

Shrouded in the darkness of shorter days, the skeletal winter landscape cries out for evergreens. Long a symbol of good luck, health and even immortality, hollies shine in winter, sharing center stage with the holiday firs. The ancient Romans used holly in their pagan Saturnalia rituals, as it was sacred to the god Saturn. Druids recognized a Holly King in their observances, and later, the Christian legend of King Arthur gave us the Green Knight carrying a holly branch.

With a history like this, it’s no wonder that beautiful evergreens continue to be the preferred choice to anchor our winter landscapes. Before selecting your evergreens, assess the conditions in your yard — sunny or shady, dry or moist, acid or alkaline soils (get a soil test kit from the Extension office) — and then find varieties that are a good fit.

The big tree trio is surely comprised of the oak, magnolia and conifer. Live oak, Quercus virginiana, is the most beautiful of trees — storm-strong, long-lived and drought-tolerant; provides both food and protection to wildlife; and, given its benefits, relatively mess-free, since the dropped leaves are small and can be collected for the best free mulch you will find. If I could have just one tree in my life, it would be the live oak.

For a more manageable-sized oak with almost all the qualities of the live oak, the sand live oak, Quercus geminata, is a great choice. Another favorite large evergreen is the Southern magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora, reaching 60-80 feet tall and about 30 feet wide. There are several smaller versions of the magnolia, one of which is mentioned below. Rounding out the traditional evergreen trio is a conifer such as the longleaf pine, Pinus palustris; the slash pine, Pinus elliottii; the red cedar, Juniperus silicicola/virginiana; and the white cedar, Chamaecyparis thyoides. Nothing evokes crisp winter days like the fragrance of pine and cedar.

The American holly, Ilex opaca, leads the medium-sized tree group, but there are many options. Give hollies ample sunlight for an easy and beautiful winter evergreen, with the bonus of red berries. The Ilex group offers a wide range of options, from the lusterleaf holly, Ilex latifolia, to the Savannah holly, Ilex x attenuata “Savannah.” The native Dahoon holly, Ilex cassine, is suited to sunny, moist locations, but you’ll need to plant both males and females to get red berries. The smaller-sized Teddy Bear magnolia is a good medium-sized tree option, offering a 20-foot-tall and 12-to-15-foot-wide pyramidal canopy with the same deep green leaves, soft velvet brown backs and white blooms through the summer.

Favorites among the small evergreen trees, or tree-form large shrubs, are the red berry trees, such as the Burford holly, Ilex cornuta “Burfordii,” and other varieties in the 15-to-20-foot range, like the Nellie R. Stevens holly, Ilex x “Nellie R Stevens.” A good tree-form shrub for winter’s red berries is our native weeping Yaupon holly, Ilex vomitoria f. pendula, with its unique twisted and draping form. A few other native trees in the 15-to-20-foot range include the native wax myrtle, Myrica cerifera, with its wide vase-shaped crown and aromatic leaves; the bay tree, Laurus nobilis; and even fruit-bearing trees such as the loquat, Eriobotrya japonica.

Perhaps the most beautiful small anchor tree for the home landscape is the camellia, and as a bonus, it tolerates some shade. Choose a fast-growing Camellia sasanqua for sunnier spots, or the slower-growing but equally beautiful Camellia japonica, or even better, some of each to extend your bloom season. Whatever you choose, you will be rewarded with fall-to-late-winter blooms that will compete with your decorated “Tannenbaum.”

Any home landscape needs the small evergreen shrubs that serve as foundation, bed liner and even potted plantings. One of the best all-around dwarf evergreens is the native yaupon holly, Oscar Gray. Hollies shine in this size, too, and there are several good choices such as the dwarf soft-touch holly, Ilex crenata “Soft Touch.” Traditional boxwood, Buxus, fell prey to blight disease some years back, so I would avoid a big investment in boxwood, but a potted Little Missy variety, B. microphylla “Little Missy,” which has good blight resistance, could accentuate a spot in the landscape. All of these options respond well to trimming and shaping, so you can experiment with those lovely topiary forms you see in the magazines. For blooms, add one of the many dwarfed evergreen azalea varieties.

New evergreen varieties enter the market endlessly, but you can’t go wrong with these time-tested choices, and you will be rewarded with a living landscape until spring rouses the sleepy-headed deciduous plants.

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