Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Other Names:  Box-leaved Holly

Description:

Prized for its narrow, towering form, and spectacular golden foliage that lights up the garden; this shrub makes a bold statement when planted in a container or as a focal point; perfect for smaller home landscapes

Ornamental Features

Golden Sky™ Japanese Holly is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its rigidly columnar form. It has attractive dark green foliage with hints of gold which emerges yellow in spring. The small glossy oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Golden Sky™ Japanese Holly is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting birds and bees to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Golden Sky™ Japanese Holly is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Vertical Accent
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Golden Sky™ Japanese Holly will grow to be about 7 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 30 inches. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for rich, acidic soils. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Golden Sky™ Japanese Holly makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.

This plant is not reliably hardy in our region, and certain restrictions may apply; contact the store for more information.