Nellie Stevens Holly

A fast, dense evergreen screen with glossy dark-green leaves and bright red winter berries — privacy without a second plant in sight.

Nellie Stevens Holly (Ilex X 'Nellie R. Stevens') is a broadleaf evergreen prized as one of the most reliable privacy and screening hollies for the South and mid-Atlantic. It carries thick, leathery, dark-green leaves year-round on a naturally full pyramidal frame, growing at a moderate, steady pace to a mature 15 to 25 ft. tall and 6 to 10 ft. wide. Its tight, layered branching gives you a solid green wall from the ground up — ideal for tall property-line screens, evergreen backdrops, and stately specimen planting.

Why growers choose the Nellie Stevens Holly

• Dense, year-round screening. Branches hold foliage to the soil line, so it blocks views in every season — no bare winter gaps like deciduous hedges.
• Self-fruiting habit. Unlike most hollies, Nellie Stevens sets a heavy crop of red berries without a male nearby, so a single row still lights up in winter.
• Tough and adaptable. Heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant once established, and hardy in zones 6 to 9, it shrugs off conditions that stress softer evergreens.
• More deer-resistant than arborvitae. The stiff, spined leaves discourage browsing, making it a smarter screen where deer pressure is high.
• Low maintenance. Naturally pyramidal, so it looks tidy with little or no shearing, and resists most of the pests that plague needled conifers.

Plant a single specimen as a glossy evergreen anchor, or set several in a row for a tall privacy hedge, windbreak, or evergreen backdrop along a fence or property line.