When we initally bought our wooded home lot, it came with two Cleyera shrubs and a Burford holly close to the property line. For twenty years, we have enjoyed both plants which offer food and shelter for wildlife and essentially no maintenance on our part. These are two Florida Friendly evergreen selections that can serve as natural screens in a landscape.

Cleyera (C. japonica) offers glossy leaves with abundant flowers in May.  Large shrubs are alive with visiting bumblebees and honeybees.  Small fruit will develop later in the season. Shrubs can reach about 12 feet tall and 6 feet wide. They won’t need to be pruned if your planting site is carefully selected.  While Cleyera can tolerate full sun, it grows best with a little shade in the late afternoon.  The planting area should also have well drained soil.  If you visit the nursery to purchase a Cleyera, you will find many different cultivars that offer varying sizes and foliage colors.

The Burford holly has shiny dark green leaves with a point at the tip.  Shrubs will be very dense and often get as wide as tall, about 8-15 feet.  We commonly see Burford holly plants pruned heavily but they are more attractive in my opinion when given room to grow to full size. Spring flowers will be a favorite of bees with red berries forming later in the year. Unlike other hollies, Burford will produce berries without pollination.  You may choose a full sun or partial shade location as long as the soil is well drained. Plants will struggle if the soil pH is too alkaline. Some Burford hollies can have a soft scale infestation, especially if heavily pruned so a little monitoring is important.

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