Dear Neil: I’m planting Nellie R. Stevens hollies along our 6-foot privacy fence and will top it at 8 feet. How far a part should I space them, and how far should they be away from the fence 18, 24 or ...

Holly might not normally seem like a large enough plant to use for privacy, but that's not the case with this cultivar. Nellie Stevens holly (Ilex 'Nellie R. Stevens') can actually reach heights of 30 ...

Dear Neil: I planted two small Japanese yews a year ago to act as privacy screening plants. They have grown well, but I can already tell it will take too long for them to give the privacy I need. Can ...

However, my go-to tall privacy screen is Nellie R. Stevens holly. It grows to 12 to 15 feet tall and 8 or 9 feet wide with very infrequent trimming. It actually can grow even larger in Southeast and ...

DEAR NEIL: If I wanted to grow a Nellie R. Stevens holly as a tree, how would I train it? I see nice shrubs in the nursery. What should I be looking for? Dear Reader: If you want a single-trunk tree ...

Dear Neil: I have a rural property in East Texas where I’m trying to establish a privacy screen. I want to use Nellie R. Stevens hollies. The fence is 270 feet long. How many plants would I need (how ...

Dear Neil: I need a tall screen for our backyard. It needs to be evergreen, and I’d like it to grow to be 10 or 12 feet tall. It’s rather shady. What would you suggest? A: Nellie R. Stevens holly ...

Q: What is the best way to feed and prune a number of Nellie R. Stevens hollies we planted five years ago in order to encourage vertical growth? A: Before I try to answer that, let me remind you that ...

DEAR NEIL: When should I prune my Nellie R. Stevens holly? How much can I trim it? Dear Reader: The best time to trim and reshape any evergreen shrub is late winter, a few weeks before the burst of ...

There has been lots of discussion about the damage to plants from the Valentine’s Week Freeze. Among the plants subjected to the most damage were xylosma, oleander, boxwood, Japanese plum (loquat), ...