For a well-balanced landscape, it’s advised to ensure that at least one-third of your plants are evergreen. These rock-steady plants help set the lines of your design; giving structure and year-round color for interest in all seasons.

For those who prefer native plants, or need to limit the pruning requirements, we highly recommend Strongbox® Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra ‘ILEXFARROWTRACEY’ ) is an excellent, elegant broad-leaved evergreen.

It resembles a Boxwood, but grows faster. This premium selection is quite adaptable to a wide variety of different garden sites, acidic soils and conditions.

Strongbox Inkberry Holly stays small and grows into a broadly rounded shape. Use it as a formal low hedging plant that needs little pruning.

This native shrub maintains its blue-green foliage all the way to the ground. The pretty, round leaves do not have rough-edged prickles. They make a handsome green accent plant all season.

Strongbox is a female plant, and may produce tiny black berries if you have a male Inkberry Holly nearby. History buffs can try their hand at recreating the Civil War experience of homesick soldiers writing with homespun ink.

This is a great plant to include in a Pollinator Garden, as the tiny white spring flowers support honey bees. If the blooms get pollinated, local songbirds will certainly enjoy feasting on their berries in fall!

It’s no matter if you are renting, or if you own your property. You can always grow Strongbox Inkberry Holly in large outdoor containers to gain a wonderfully formal feeling, for little more effort than regular watering.

This hardy evergreen is just about maintenance free, not needing any coddling and still able to look great. Strongbox is very disease and pest resistant.

No wonder the popularity of these charming small evergreens is skyrocketing! Order your Strongbox today!

How to Use Strongbox® Inkberry Holly in the Landscape

You’ll find so many ways to use these tidy, architectural plants to spice up the looks of your landscape. Repeat them in a mixed garden border to give a constant evergreen presence, even in winter.

Pop them into containers for your patio. You might love the look of a curated collection of shapes, colors, and styles with a consistent Strongbox Inkberry Holly plant used in each pot!

Really, you can style these small shrubs any way you like. Their versatility is one of the reasons people adore them so much.

Let them grow out without any pruning to provide a natural, evergreen outline to a rustic Butterfly Garden. Or, shape them to add to your foundation, or in patio plantings.

Create a low, solid hedge by planting them two feet apart. You’ll measure from the center of one to the center of the next.

Massed plantings of Strongbox Inkberry Holly act just like the right setting to set off a jewel. Rely on their year-round visual impact to ground the effect of an informal grouping of flowering deciduous trees.

Use a sweet edging row to corral an airy-fairy Cottage Garden. Strongbox also shores up the look of free-range sculptural shrubs like Fothergilla and Buttonbush.

They won’t mind wet feet once in a while. Try at the edge of a pond. Weave them into the mesic zone of a planned Rain Garden.

#ProPlantTips for Care

Plant them in either full sun or partial shade. Give them at least four hours of morning sunshine. In very warm climates, they’ll appreciate a little afternoon shade.

Strongbox Inkberry Holly is tolerant, but performs best in moist, acidic soils. Apply a medium amount of supplemental water regularly, in the absence of rainfall.

Pruning is not really needed. However, you may want to shorten or even up growth after the first flush of growth in late spring.

These ericaceous plants need a lower pH soil. Add a three-inch layer of pine straw or pine bark mulch, and fertilize with acid-loving plant formulas following label directions.

Create a stunning style with this carefree native broad-leaved evergreen. Place your order for Strongbox Inkberry Holly today!