Plant: Kathy Ann - Yaupon Holly

Plant description

Kathy Ann is a selection of yaupon holly, a fine textured broadleaf evergreen native from the southeastern United States to Mexico, with glossy leathery green leaves about an inch and a half long and thin smooth light gray to almost white bark. Small greenish white flowers open in spring on separate male and female plants, and female plants bear clusters of quarter inch red drupes that mature in fall and persist into winter, feeding songbirds and small mammals. Yaupon tolerates drought, salt spray, flooding, wind and hard pruning and grows in sun or shade on almost any soil, working as a hedge, screen, barrier or small specimen tree.

Flowers

Small greenish white flowers appear on male and female plants in spring, around April.

Foliage

Oval leaves about one and a half inches long are glossy green and leathery with toothed margins.

Fruit

Quarter inch red drupes borne in clusters mature in fall and persist into winter on female plants.

Bark & stems

Bark is thin, smooth and light gray to almost white; young stems are purple and turn gray with age.

Native range

USA to Mexico; AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, OK, SC, TX, VA

Plant details