The flowers are insignificant, but the berries that follow them are wonderful on this slow-growing evergreen holly, whose young leaves are roasted like coffee and brewed into tea. Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) is native to the south-east of North America; give it full sun and a male plant nearby, and berries and dense leaves follow with almost no care.
| Name | Ilex vomitoria |
|---|---|
| Family | Ilex (holly) |
| Type | evergreen shrub |
| Height | 3-30 feet (1 to 10 meters) |
| Exposure | full or part sun |
| Soil | no restrictions |
As it grows slowly and bears beautiful berries, you won’t be digging up the hatchet against your neighbors!
Yaupon can be planted in any garden quite easily if you follow these shrub planting instructions.
Note that there are two main types of yaupon:
For container growing, it’s always best to choose dwarf yaupon holly, since you won’t need to repot it as often.
For hedges, regular tree yaupon varieties is perfect. Some yaupon types are better suited to topping off fence walls with greenery. Others are opaque from top to bottom for full-fledged hedges. Jump to the section about different species of yaupon.
Planting yaupon as a standalone means you won’t have to care for it at all!
Indeed, it naturally grows into beautiful shapes. Most dwarf varieties are mounding, meaning they grow into dense balls or cushions. Some taller varieties resemble Christmas trees or weeping willows.
To boost blooming and have your yaupon grow dense leaves, grow it in full sun.
Yaupon is sold in two very different sizes, and within them in several natural habits. The table below sets out what each one grows into and what it is best used for.
| Type or habit | Height | Best use | Pruning |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Tree” yaupon | Up to 30 feet (9 or 10 metres) | Hedges, screens, specimen trees | None if it has space; prune suckers off every year for a clear trunk |
| Dwarf yaupon | 2 to 6 feet (60cm to 2m) | Pots and containers, low mounds | Every year or every two years to keep it small |
| Vase-shaped and pyramid forms | Tall | Standalone feature in the open garden | None needed, the shape comes naturally |
| Untended, thicket-forming yaupon | Up to 30 feet tall and wide | Mixed or berry hedge, cover for nesting birds | Leave unpruned; it can still be cut back heavily later |
Whichever you pick, full sun gives the densest leaves and the best crop of berries.
Yaupon will keep on growing throughout its entire lifetime. If you never prune it, it may reach up to over 30 feet tall (10 meters) tall and wide.
As they grow, dwarf yaupon hollies will form a nice, round shape, like a green half-bubble resting on the ground. Dwarf varieties are easily kept small, from 2 feet to 6 feet (60cm to 2m).
Other, taller varieties will branch out like an elegant vase, while still others grow into triangular pyramids. When left untended, yaupon grows secondary trunks and forms dense thickets that are a boon for nesting birds.
Yaupon constantly sends out new branches from old wood.
Note that generally, male specimens grow faster than female specimens – a consequence of not diverting energy into giving life to the next generation!
Yaupon only needs watering during the first year, to help it settle in.
There’s no need to fertilize the soil around your yaupon. Of course, layering organic mulch will always help it grow strong and vigorous!
There are no common pests or diseases that affect yaupon. Even deer only resort to nibbling yaupon only once all other fodder is unavailable.
Note, however, that deer do like munching on the berries. They won’t harm the yaupon much in doing so.
Yaupon can tolerate all types of soil, but full sun is needed for the tree to survive if ever the ground is always wet. Yaupon might be weakened by wet roots if there isn’t enough sun to keep the sap circulating.
Preparing cuttings is the best way to propagate your yaupon. Cuttings is a sure way to get new plants that are exactly the same as the first.
Depending on what you find appealing, different yaupon varieties might be the perfect match for you!
Yaupon with yellow or golden berries – ‘Yawkey’ (or ‘Yawkeyi’), ‘Aureo’ which has canary-yellow berries, and ‘Wiggins Yellow‘. ‘Virginia Dare‘ has orange berries.
Weeping yaupon – ‘Pendula’, ‘Fulsom’s Weeping‘ or ‘Gray’s Weeping‘
Straight, sky-reaching yaupon – ‘Will Fleming‘ is like a miniature poplar tree. ‘Shadow’s Female‘ is shaped like a Christmas tree, with dense leaves that make it great for topiary. ‘Dodds Cranberry‘ grows into a roundish shape and isn’t so dense unless pruned often for it to branch out.
Most often, yaupon varieties that are sold in stores are cloned offshoots of a special, remarkable specimen. In this case, cloning doesn’t mean that they were created in laboratories: every time you take a cutting and grow a new plant, you’re simply growing a clone of the original.
Nurseries and horticulturists propagate thousands of plants, and sometimes a slight mutation pops up. If it can be reproduced, a new yaupon variety is born!
Other techniques involve breeding: pollen from a male plant is spread on female yaupon varieties. Seedlings sown from these seeds are grown and sometimes genetics make for an interesting variety. Cross-pollination is the process at work here.
As mentioned earlier, Yaupon is a wonderful shrub native to the SouthEast of North America. Naturally, it spans from Texas to South Carolina, with Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Georgia in between. Today, it’s being rediscovered and introduced all the way to California for landscaping, environmental protection, and even herbal tea!
Yaupon is a plant species that has markedly different male and female specimens. Like us, female specimens bear offspring and need to be fertilized by male specimens to do so. Other common plants are similar, like the kiwi plant, Actinidia.
Yaupon never grows very wide at the trunk, but the wood is nonetheless very worthy of attention. It’s a bit brittle, but very hard.
Young leaves are the edible part of yaupon. They’re roasted (like coffee) and brewed to make tea (an infusion actually). Drinking excessive amounts may induce vomiting, though. Berries and bark aren’t edible, and also induce vomiting.
Read more:
Yaupon is often found along the coast. It helps stabilize dunes and copes with sea spray and salty air very well!
