Strongbox® Inkberry Holly is everything you've always wanted in an inkberry: dense, perfectly rounded, glossy deep green from top to bottom, and naturally well-behaved without needing a single pass with the shears. This compact, female native evergreen holds its tidy shape effortlessly, making it a dream for tight foundation plantings, low hedges, formal accents, or container groupings.

This is a female cultivar, which means it produces small dark berries in fall and winter when planted within 50 feet of a male inkberry like Squeeze Box®. Those berries are a winter food source for birds and a welcome dose of seasonal interest when the rest of the garden has gone quiet. Note: berries can cause minor stomach upset if eaten by humans or pets, so keep curious kids and dogs in mind when siting.

Native to the coastal plain of eastern North America, Strongbox® reaches 24-36 inches tall and 2-3 feet wide, thriving in acidic, well-drained soils and shrugging off both flooding and salt. Bee-friendly spring flowers, deer-resistant foliage, evergreen year-round structure, and low-maintenance habits make this the kind of native shrub that just works, season after season.