Varieties of Landscape Yaupon

Weeping

• Growing up to 20 feet tall and variably 8 to 15 feet wide is the weeping yaupon cultivar "Pendula." Both male and female plants exist under this cultivar name, and females are more ornamental in landscapes since they produce red berries on their drooping branch tips. However, the arching silhouette of a male Pendula plant still provides architectural interest. Purchase plants in autumn to know which gender they are based on presence of fruit. "Folsom's Weeping" grows 15 to 18 feet tall but only 5 to 6 feet wide with more drooping, almost curtainlike branches. It is a berry-producing female.

Narrow

• Cultivar "Will Fleming" is a male form of yaupon that matures 10 to 15 feet tall and 2 feet wide. When young, the tight, upright branches remain tidy and compact, looking like a fat pencil or green column. As the plant ages and gains more height, the thicket of vertical woody stems tend to flop outward or splay. Will Fleming is best used as a narrow hedge row or columnar accent where space is limited.

Mounding

• A huge array of dwarf shrubby forms of yaupon holly develop into mounded plants 3 to 6 feet tall and 3 to 6 feet wide. Shearing the shrubs keeps them compact and shorter. New spring leaf and twig growth often displays a pale red-green to purple-green hue. Among the dwarf shrub selections are non-fruiting male "Schillings," also known as "Stokes Dwarf," and "Condeaux," which most often is sold under the trademark name Bordeaux. "Nana," "Straughn's" and "Carolina Ruby" are female clones and yield red fruits if not constantly pruned hard and if any male yaupon is nearby for bees to cross-pollinate.

Ornate Small Tree

• A wild, natural form of yaupon develops into a vase-shaped, open-branched small tree 20 to 40 feet tall and 20 to 30 feet wide. Suckering shoots often arise from the roots at the surface, eventually creating a thicket of plants. Cultivar "Katherine" -- a female clone -- bears golden yellow berries rather than the usual red fruits. Katherine matures 15 to 30 feet tall and 10 to 20 feet wide. Also a female, "Pride of Houston" bears orange-red berries on a plant 12 to 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide.