Emily Bruner Holly
| Qty | 1-4 | 5-9 | 10-39 | 40+ |
| Price per Plant | $22.50 | $8.00 | $6.50 | $5.00 |
* Buy a minimum of 10 plants and get 1 ‘James Swan’ male holly pollenizer for FREE *
139 in stock
Ilex x ‘Emily Bruner’
The Emily Bruner holly was first identified in 1960 by famed Knoxville horticulturalist and writer Emily Bruner while overseeing work on the grounds of Swan’s Bakery. There, she spotted a cluster of six seedlings growing beneath a Burford Holly (Ilex cornuta ‘Burfordii’), their foliage subtly different from both the parent plant and nearby Lusterleaf Hollies (Ilex latifolia), suggesting a rare hybrid cross between the two species. Recognizing their uniqueness, Bruner took the seedlings home to grow in her greenhouse and garden. Some years later, after storm damage threatened her collection, she brought cuttings to the University of Tennessee for safekeeping. There, horticulture student Don Shadow assisted in propagating the plants. Nearly a decade after their discovery, Shadow introduced two of the holly cultivars to the market — ‘Emily Bruner’ and the male ‘James Swan’ — marking the beginning of his long career in bringing exceptional new plants to the nursery trade. Today, the Emily Bruner holly is a staple in Tennessee landscapes. This vigorous evergreen performs well in full sun and tolerates a wide range of soils. As a female cultivar, it requires a nearby male for berry production — most often the James Swan holly, though other spring-flowering males can work. It stands out for its glossy foliage, abundant yellow blooms, and clusters of red berries, making it ideal both as a privacy screen and as a striking standalone specimen. Planting instruction can be found at boydnursery.net/arrival-care-notes/.
| Classification | |
|---|---|
| Diseases & Insects | Problem Free |
| Family | Aquifoliaceae |
| Flowers | Flowers are staminate in 3 to 9 flowered cymes; pistillate solitary; dull white to yellow with a single green nodule (ovary and future berry) at the center; flowers have 4 non-functional stamens; berry-like, dull red rounded drupe, fruit is borne singly on .25" long stalks, maturing in October and persisting into winter; fruit display can be spectacular on good selections with a strong pollenizer |
| Growth Rate | |
| Hardiness Range | zone 7a – 9b *need help finding your hardiness zone? |
| Leaves | Leaves are typically 3 to 5 inches in length with 10 to 15 spines on each side; glossy dark green in appearance |
| Plant Type | |
| Primary Features | |
| Sex | dioecious (Female) |
| Size | 20-30 feet tall at maturity with 15-20 foot spread |
| Sun Requirement |
What am I buying?
We sell Emily Bruner Hollies as rooted cuttings. Taken from Wikipedia, “a plant cutting is a piece of a plant that is used in horticulture for vegetative (asexual) propagation. A piece of the stem or root of the source plant is placed in a suitable medium such as moist soil. If the conditions are suitable, the plant piece will begin to grow as a new plant independent of the parent, a process known as striking.” Put more simply, a rooted cutting is a small clone of the specimen from which it was taken. As a genetically identical clone, the cutting shares all the characteristic traits and attributes of the cultivated variety. Our rooted cuttings are 3-6 months old and 2-8 inches in stem length above the soil line. They are clipped from our private stock plants and grown in root pruning trays at our temperature controlled greenhouse.
When are plants collected?
Once your order is placed, your plants will be collected as soon as the weather permits. This time-frame is normally within 3-7 days. During heavy order periods (April-May), this collection time can grow to 10-14 days.
How are plants shipped?
All shipments are mailed via USPS Priority Mail using PirateShip.com. We monitor national weather conditions and temperatures for shipments. If at any time your order must be delayed for weather concerns, we will contact you by phone and/or email. The day that your order is completed or partially shipped, you will receive an email containing your package tracking number. You can also find this updated information by logging into your account on our website.
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