Honey Maid Holly
Ilex x meserveae 'Honey Maid'
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Specifications
| Plant Characteristics | Attracts Birds, Attracts pollinators, Cold hardy, Container Friendly, Deer-resistant, Evergreen, Full Sun, Hedge/Screen, Low Maintenance, Non-invasive, Ornamental Berries/Fruit, Shade Tolerant |
|---|---|
| Hardiness Zone | 5a to 7b |
| Sunlight | Full sun |
| Height | |
| Width | |
| Watering Needs | Moderate |
| Preferred Soil | Clay, Loamy, Peaty, Sandy |
| Growth Rate | Moderate |
| Growth Habit | Bushy, Upright |
| Blooms In | Spring |
| Flower Color | White |
| Foliage Color | Green |
| Fragrant | Yes |
| Pet Safety | Toxic to pets |
| Suitable Space | Outdoors |
| Plant Name | Holly |
| Botanical Name | |
| Species | |
| Cultivar | |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Does Not Ship To | AK, HI, ID, MT, PR |
Description
Flashy Evergreen Workhorse Honey Maid Holly!
- Blue-Green Foliage
- Flashy Cream-Yellow Variegation
- Lovely Toothy Leaves
- Broadleaved Evergreen
- Pyramidal Form
- Small White Flowers
- Pollinator Friendly
- Bright Red Berries in Winter
- Birds Love The Berries!
- Full Sun or Part Shade
- Moderate Moisture
- Soil Adaptability
A wonderful workhorse with a flashy side! The Honey Maid Holly, (Ilex x meserveae 'Honey Maid')' is a broadleaf evergreen with a naturally sturdy pyramidal shape and really punches up the curbside appeal of any home or landscape!
With branching that is horizontal and a bit irregular, just to keep things interesting, Honey Maid generally grows very dense and shrubby. Honey Maid's foliage puts on a year-round show! Variegated blue-green leaves with creamy-yellowish margins, it's fantastically showy! The leaf edges are slightly toothy and spiny, giving the entire plant a wonderful texture.
With very consistent coloration all year, you'll always have a stalwart presence in your landscape!
Honey Maid's tiny white flowers in late April and early May, draw pollinators. Imagine big fat bumblebees dangling from white bell flowers or butterflies fluttering about! While they are not overwhelmingly ornamental, the flowers are numerous!
When fall arrives, the yellowy cream and blue-green foliage does not change much, instead remains unwavering in its flashy impact. However, if you have a male plant in the area, Honey Maid is a female selection and adorns herself with bright red berries if a male pollinator such as Blue Prince or Castle Wall is planted nearby! Persisting all winter, the fruit is very showy, glossy and irresistible to birds!
All this, and combined with that fantastic natural pyramid form, make Honey Maid a truly outstanding selection for your landscape!
How to Use Honey Maid Holly In The Landscape
The natural triangular form of Honey Maid makes her the perfect exclamation point to highlight your home's foundation planting, to add high-style curb appeal!
Creating uniquely shaped hedges, both formal or informal, the upright zig-zag these create when planted in a row is high impact privacy, screening, and visual barrier.
Also lovely as the perfect specimen plant to draw the eye in your garden beds or become a unique backdrop to smaller shrubs and perennials. Honey Maid also works amazingly in containers! What an accent when you plant a pair flanking your entrance or to mark the beginning of a walkway or path's entrance.
Don't forget to incorporate these for the bees and butterflies in spring and to feed your local bird population in the fall!
#ProPlantTips For Care
Honey Maid grows best in full sun, however, she will tolerate light shade. However, less sun will result in a more open growing habit. Cold hardy in the growing zones from 6 through 9 (and can be grown in zone 5 if planted in a sheltered location out of winter winds).
Holly prefers moderately moist, well-drained soils, but adaptable to most soil types. She does need a slightly acidic medium. Water regularly to establish young plants, then top off with supplemental watering in drought and times of need.
Growing to an impressive 7' - 8' tall, and 4-5' wide, you can prune these smaller right after flowering.
Because Honey Maid is female, you'll need to plant with a male Holly such as Blue Prince or Castle Wall™ nearby for the fall berries.
For persistent color all year, Honey Maid Holly's shape, toughness and tolerance make her a unique and high-style choice for all landscapes! Order yours from Nature Hills Nursery and punch up your home's curb appeal today!
Planting & Care
Delivery and Shipping
Shipping Rates
Ships in 3-5 business days • Tracking provided • Weather protected
| Under $50 | $9.99 |
| $50 - $99.99 | $14.99 |
| $100 - $149.99 | $16.99 |
| $150 - $198.99 | $24.99 |
| $199+ | FREE |
✓ Zone-specific timing • ✓ Professional packaging • ✓ Health guarantee
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The plant arrived in a box that protected the plant well!!! The plant looks very healthy, the root system was not root bound. Great job!!!
Excellent! Holly arrived well packaged and without any damage. They are nice sized and beautiful dark green with red berries. I would definitely order from Nature Hills in the future
Hi Casey, Thank you so much for your wonderful review of the Royal Family Holly Combo! We're thrilled to hear that your plants arrived in perfect condition and that you're already enjoying those beautiful red berries. To keep your hollies looking their best, water them regularly during their first growing season to help establish strong roots. Once established, they're quite drought tolerant. A 2-3 inch layer of mulch around the base will help retain moisture and keep roots cool, which hollies really appreciate. Thanks again - Nature Hills Customer Support
Plant was a nice size and looked to be very healthy. Easy to remove from the pot and plant. The birds are looking forward to having another holly shrub to live in :-)
Hollies really do become a neighborhood hub for birds once they settle in, so your yard is in for some good activity. Glad the transplant went smoothly too. that easy transition out of the pot usually means the roots were in good shape and the plant is ready to take off. Thanks for planting with us, Ellen.
Looks great! Can’t wait to see how it thrives.
Hollies are such reliable performers, and the Royal Family Combo really does put on a show once it settles in. Give it a season to establish its roots, and you should start seeing strong new growth and those signature berries. Thanks for sharing, Karen, and happy growing!
It looks like the Holly bush’s are doing very well
Royal Family Holly is a tough, rewarding combo when it gets established, so it's good to hear yours are settling in well. Keep an eye on moisture levels heading into the hotter months, and they should reward you with a strong flush of new growth. Thanks for the update, Duffy. The Nature Hills Team
I wadn’t sure what to expect but my purchases are beautiful, healthy and thriving. It was delivered on time and beautifully packaged. Highly recommended company and will make future purchases.
Hearing that your Royal Family Holly arrived healthy and hit the ground running is exactly what we hope for. Holly combos like this really do reward a little patience, and it sounds like yours are off to a strong start. We look forward to growing with you on future orders, Douglas.
Beautiful, well packaged
Big, beautiful, healthy plant arrived in excellent packaging. Already filled with red holly berries. Can't wait to get it out in the yard!
Hi Barbara, Thank you so much for your lovely review! We are happy to hear that your Royal Family Holly Combo arrived safe & sound. Make sure to plant your hollies in well-draining soil, as they don't like soggy or waterlogged conditions. If you have heavy clay soil, consider amending it with compost or planting on a slight mound to improve drainage and keep your hollies healthy. Thank you - Nature Hills Customer Support
It was beautiful when it arrived and started growing immediately!
Hi Sarah, Thank you so much for your wonderful review on the Royal Family Holly combo! We're thrilled to hear that your plants arrived in beautiful condition and are already growing strong. Since you have both the male and female hollies together, you're all set for a fantastic berry display. To encourage the best fruiting, make sure your hollies receive full sun to partial shade, with at least 4-6 hours of direct sunlight daily.
We appreciate your business and hope your Royal Family Hollies bring you years of beauty and wildlife enjoyment!
Thank you - Nature Hills Customer Support
Great description & fast shipping
Beautiful plant was amazed of the size totally happy with purchase.
The plant was beautiful, big, full, white flowers & red berries. I was amazed!
The holly bush was well packaged and arrived in remarkable shape. The plant was thriving and the box was protective but easy to remove. The shrub was planted upon arrival and is thriving.
Plant was big and healthy and well packaged.
Great idea to put a MALE and a FEMALE together in one pot.Thats how it must be ,,,producing great berries.
We received 3 very healthy, dark green plants (Spring 2023) with 17" tall & wide growth in #3 sized pots (2.4 gallon). They look beautiful (already!) along our Full Sun front bed (and are a beautiful contrast with Twist-of-Lime Abelia and the small "Flirt" Nandinas (we prefer the more robust-looking "Obsession" Nandinas but the smaller "Flirts" are OK). Other online nurseries CLAIM to have 'WillEmer' hollies in stock, but (after MUCH effort and online messaging) the other companies do not actually have the product. I have already recommended these plants via NatureHills.com to many, many neighbors. It took awhile to receive the order (fyi) but my enthusiastic-patience was well-rewarded!
Dear BJB,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your wonderful experience with the ‘WillEmer’ Emerald Magic Meserve Holly! We’re delighted to hear you found the plants healthy and vibrant, especially noting their impressive size and beautiful contrast alongside your Twist-of-Lime Abelia and “Flirt” Nandinas. It’s great to know your patience paid off and that those Hollies are thriving in your full sun front bed.
We truly appreciate your recommendations to neighbors—that means the world to us and helps grow our community of plant lovers! Regarding the delivery timeframe, we’re grateful for your understanding as seasonal demand can sometimes impact shipping durations. To help you get even more out of your new hollies, feel free to visit our online Plant Care guide specifically for hollies. It offers excellent tips on watering, pruning, and pest prevention that can keep your emerald beauties looking their best.
If you have any questions or want to explore robust “Obsession” Nandinas or other complementary plants, we’re always happy to assist with personalized suggestions. Your garden sounds like it’s blossoming beautifully—thank you for letting us be a part of it!
Bloom on,
The Nature Hills Plant Knowledge Team
I am always leery about ordering plants online but because of the great reviews, I decided to take a chance. A few minutes ago the Ilex arrived and it is absolutely beautiful. Leaves are shiny green, soil was moist, no broken branches, no signs of bugs or disease etc. It is also bigger than what I was expecting and stands 32" tall including the pot. I am absolutely delighted and will order more shrubs etc from this vendor!
I ordered two different holly plants from this vendor. Both arrived well-packaged and in excellent condition. Plants were tall (app 2.5 ft), thick (app 2 ft wide), and healthy with moist soil. Well worth the money spent. I recently ordered a China Boy from Home Depot for a little less money. With that order, I received an 8 inch tall plant that an animal promptly stole! I recommend spending a little more money to get this exceptional plant.
Very pleased with this purchase! The holly combo arrived three days from purchase, packaged well, in robust health, almost 5 feet tall, even with a few berries! You could easily pay 2-3x the price at a big box store or nursery. I won't hesitate to order plants next year. Who knew??
These came earlier than stated (awesome!) and were in excellent condition. The packaging was incredibly good and protected them. They were about 4 1/2 feet tall from bottom of pot to top of holly. Shiny, healthy leaves. Can't wait to get them planted.
This Blue Princess/ Prince Holly was the greenest healthiest plant i may have ever seen. Around 36 inches with new growth. Very happy with this and shipping. I am buying two more and other plants down the road from them.
Plants arrived even earlier than anticipated, in excellent condition. They are gorgeous and larger and wider than I anticipated. They have transformed the look of my front yard. Thank you, would absolutely order again!
We ordered a blue prince/princess holly bush and it arrived in such amazing condition, even better than you would find at a nursery! I was truly impressed and will be ordering from them again!
I ordered these hollies because I needed Blue Prince to fertilize the Blue Princesses I had just bought from a local store. These had good reviews, but I was a little dubious as it said they would take almost 10 days to arrive! I tracked the two packages and they were picked up almost the day of ordering and were with the carrier by the weekend. We live in Texas, it's over 100F for the last 10 days and I didn't have high hopes for these.BUT they arrived today (Tuesday) they were due next Friday, so early (yes). Thank you, very happy customer.
I ordered eight of these bushes and they are huge; the best looking bushes I’ve seen. They were well packed and they look green and healthy
Bigger than expected and healthy
It came very well packed! Durable cardboard box held up during the shipping process. The plant arrived very healthy and I saw a few red berries! It made me smile. In the ground it went and I will fertilize it with Hollytone, but will read the directions first to see when to fertilize. I can't wait to see snow on it in winter.
Came fresh and green and shipping was awesome. Planted them right away and now they are blooming and doing great. Having both male and female in the same pot was the best idea ever!
I was somewhat skeptical about ordering shrubs online but was pleasantly surprised how nice they were when they arrived. They are beautiful and look great in my landscape. They were carefully wrapped. Great job!!! I would highly recommend buying.
