Find more gardening information on Gardening Know How: Keep up to date with all that's happening in and around the garden. Also train the shrub into a simple topiary; see "Quirks and special cases" below. Holly usually recovers strongly from Winter damage; it doesn't, It would be difficult to have a garden without at least one cultivar of Japanese holly, and even modest gardens might have several. If allowed to grow free-range, 'Sky Pencil' has great natural dignity and integrity. For many years, our landscape installation company has used the Sky Pencil Holly in foundation plantings where the plant is spaced a foot or two from the wall of the home or concrete surfaces such as patios, walks, and drives. If you prune in the Fall, the shrub won't get the extra bit of Winter protection that would be provided to the plants' interior by the foliage and small branches you'll be pruning off the exterior. Holly bushes prefer well-drained soil with a pH range between 5.0 and 6.0. Do not top them. Ilex crenata is native to Japan; 'Sky Pencil' is native to Japan also, where it was discovered in the wild. Each of these sky pencil holly problems can occur more than once in a year. 'Sky Pencil' will, nearly always, be container-grown, and establishes easily at any size available. As long as you avoid the most extreme temperatures during the year, your boxwoods will be fine. Sky Pencil can handle pruning to keep it at a lower height if desired. - The shrub has patches of dry leaves that looks like disease or insect. You don’t have to worry about coming in contact with the plant because the leaves aren’t prickly as with other types of holly shrubs. Here are some tips: Plants between 3 inches (7.6 cm) and 2 feet (61 cm) tall will grow in a 4 inches (10 cm) deep container. Instead, you could use thinning cuts to keep them short, never removing more than a third of the plant. They produce small, greenish flowers and female plants produce tiny, black berries, but neither is particularly ornamental. Best Time To Transplant Sky Pencil Holly - When is the best time to transplant sky pencil holly? The roots need to be at least 10" deep according to one source, but we had good results at depths of 12" to 18". Q. Pencil Holly Cutting - Is it too late to root Pencil Holly cuttings now? If left to grow naturally, it grows no more than 2 feet (.6 m.) wide, and you can prune it to just a foot (.3 m.) in width. Formerly sold as Sky Pointer ®. The narrower the hedge is at the top, the less the snow can accumulate there. My Sky Pencil Is Losing Its Leaves. Ilex crenata Sky Pencil. This succulent shrub sprouts pencil-shaped branches and small leaves grow from the tips. Ilex crenata 'Sky Pointer' is a narrow, pyramidal evergreen Japanese Holly with a shiny foliage of fairly flat, dark green leaves, which holds all year. Their incon… That quick November visit is my last chance to pay respect to an otherwise maintenance-free shrub before Winter descends. To determine whether the plant you have is a 'Blue Prince' holly or an unfertilized 'Blue Princess,' examine the flowers, located between the leaf and branch joint. All the branches arise from the bottom; there isn't a trunk per se. Shiny, dark evergreen leaves and tight upright branching make this a must have plant. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage. Instead, they appear as individual plants. Because the shrub's height and bulk are created by many separate branches growing vertically from the base, it's easier to form the ball from several branches instead of just one. Little Gem Magnolia Tree. What you must do is to avoid over watering the shrub. When space is tight, nice options include Sky Pencil Holly, North Pole Arborvitae or Blue Arrow Juniper. Ilex aquifolium Holly trees (Ilex aquifolium) can tolerate either sun and shade. Weave back and forth like this until you reach within a foot of the top; finish with a horizontal pass only inches from the top. If you choose to prune them, do so in winter while the plants are dormant. With the exception of a few variegates and gold-leaved cultivars, the foliage is a dignified dark green—much darker than Ilex crenata's counterpart in all of these diversities, boxwood, whose leaves are noticeably lighter green. Perfect for a tight screening around garbage containers or ac units. That, clearly, isn't sufficient! Sky Pencil Holly Spacing. Water deeply after planting and add more fill dirt if the soil settles. If you're planting 'Sky Pencil' as a hedge, planting every two feet is fine. I want to make a hedge of them for privacy in my front yard (see picture below). This allows you to use them as architectural plants to frame a door or entryway or on decks and patios. below. Choose an area with well-drained soil and no standing water. In the ground, you can use Sky Pencil holly shrubs as a hedge plant. If your hedge is eight feet tall, you won't need to get the ten-foot lengths of rebar cut. Not fancy enough? It was introduced to America during the Civil War and was cultivated in Japan for who-knows-how-many centuries before that. Any decent soil, in full sun to light shade. Forming the ball from the collective growth of several branches is the solution. Shop Fall Color! Sky Pencil Holly, ilex crenata ‘Sky Pencil’, is a narrow, columnar holly that grows just 2 to 3 feet wide and up to 8 feet tall. If there is any tip damage by the end of Winter, prune that off in early Spring. Starting two feet from the ground, weave twine between the shrubs, tying it to each rebar as you come across them. These Norway Spruce were planted too far apart from each other 25 or 30 years ago and they never formed a privacy screen. Does anyone have any experience with this plant? Ilex aquifolium, or English holly, generally grows larger (30'-50' at maturity). Easily identifiable by its upright, columnar growth habit, the "Sky Pencil" holly (Ilex crenata "Sky Pencil) works well as an accent plant, container specimen or a natural screen when planted in mass. This improved hybrid holly, 'RutHol 1', was developed by Dr. John M. Ruter, renowned plant breeder and researcher at the University of Georgia. If the soil can be acid and humus-rich—like you'd provide for your best rhododendrons and azaleas—so much the better. Louis tries to capture the exact words to describe the fleeting but deep pleasures to be found in these Summer-into-Autumn incredibles. 'Sky Pencil' doesn't form trunk-like branches, though. These plants are considered Meserve hybrids, developed by amateur horticulturist Kathleen Kellogg Meserve as the hardy standard holly in garden centers and nurseries everywhere. At maturity it may put on a bit of weight around the middle, but so far has not exceeded 2 feet in diameter. As tall and very narrow hedge; like all hollies, 'Sky Pencil' is comfortable with pruning, whether it's regular or occasional, mild or drastic. The Japanese Holly will grow as tall as ten feet under suitable conditions. Don't worry about buying large plants; small ones will grow faster than you think, and in three years will look no different than the large ones. Do you know the rate of growth for the Pencil… Q. Sky Pencil Hollies - I live in zone 5. Although Ilex crenata itself is impressively shade-tolerant, the growth in lower light is open and, often, bare from the waist down. In Zone 7 and warmer, as a formal exclamation point in year-round containers. It serves well as a low-cropped foundation planting, as a privacy screen, as a hedge or as a specimen tree for a focal point in the garden. 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