Source: Wilson Bros. Gardens (GA)
Size shipped: #3 pot (measured ~2' tall)
Planted: In ground, April 2023
First flowering: Probably at the nursery
FINALLY. This is the holly I'd been lusting after for its foliage ever since I first lay eyes on one at my orthodontist's office. Even if it never bears berries (I don't believe it's parthenocarpic, and I don't (yet) have any male hollies on the property), I don't know if I will ever tire of those leaves.
Sunset does not recommend 'Mary Nell' north of zone 32, and most sources I've seen give its hardiness limit as USDA zone 7. I am betting that its location, within about two yards of the house (shielding it from northern winter winds) and at the outer edge of an ell formed by the protruding garage and the front of the house proper, plus being close to a bed mulched with river-style rocks, will keep it warm enough in the winter to survive. But even if it doesn't, I simply had to try this beauty at least once.
This holly is also significant as the first new plant I've planted since moving! While I'm still in the Piedmont of New Jersey, I'm now farther south than I used to be and at a lower elevation, putting me in Sunset zone 34 rather than 37, though all my other zone designations remain the same. I will say, though, that the climate normals from the NOAA really aren't significantly different between there and here.
However, as such, the task of planting this holly also served as a reminder of why a lot of my plantings take so long to do... namely, the ROCKS. I could not even get a full shovel-blade down into the soil before hitting rocks everywhere -- the turf grass that had been here apparently had barely enough soil depth to survive, which might have been why there wasn't much actual grass left among the weeds. I don't know if it's rubble from when the house was built or if it occurs naturally, but judging by this and by the soil samples I collected earlier for lab testing, it seems like this is something I will need to deal with here just as much as I did in my previous location... which means I had better brush up on plants that can take such shallow and rocky soil, like the ones on the lists here, here, and here.
Fortunately, holly just so happens to be on those lists...