Quercus ilex – Bushes (Holm Oak)

n our opinion, one of the toughest and loveliest trees in the world. It will produce pretty little greeny catkins in the spring and teeny acorns in the autumn, but the foliage is its year-round asset. Dense foliaged with small, glossy dark-green leaves showing a slightly paler underside creating a graceful solidity of form.  This quality makes it especially good for classic large-scale topiary, be it a round or mushroom-headed standard, multi-trunked specimen or a pleached tree. They are highly adaptable and versatile in the garden, taking full sun or shade and having no fussiness with regards to soil. It’ll grow on chalk or clay, by the sea, in the middle of a wood or on top of a hill.

The Quercus ilex Family

One of the toughest and loveliest evergreen trees in the world, in our opinion. It will do pretty little pale green catkins in spring and teeny acorns in autumn but the foliage is its year-round asset. Small, glossy dark green leaves with a slightly paler underside are produced in such abundance that the tree quickly becomes very dense and has a graceful solidity of form when au-naturelle. However this quality makes it superb for training and cultivating as a more controlled standard specimen, as you can see here. Adding to their obvious visual qualities, they are highly adaptable and versatile in the garden, taking full sun or shade and having no fussiness with regards to soil. Very few trees have such an adaptability to so many different climates: they’ll grow on chalk or clay, by the sea, in the middle of a wood or on top of a hill.