Like the Soft Touch Holly shrub’s name suggests, this Ilex crenata cultivar adds a ‘soft touch’ to your garden or landscapes. It is not comparable to other holly varieties with its soft-textured foliage that features no sharp spines. The Soft Touch compact Holly bush features a unique low, dome-shaped form, flexible branches, and soft-to-the-touch, dark green leaves. The glossy green foliage of the soft holly bush is in a dense mounded form and small shape.
I. Appearance and Characteristics
Soft Touch Japanese Holly is a cultivar of Ilex Crenata, Japanese Holly, a native of Japan and east Asia and found in thickets, woods and wet places in lowland and mountains all over Japan. Soft Touch Japanese Holly is a dense, mounded, evergreen shrub with a moderate growth rate. Unlike its parent, it will reach a relatively short height of 3 feet and has soft-textured leaves without the sharp spines typically found on Japanese Holly. Soft Touch Japanese Holly glossy green leaves also have an interesting silver mid-vein.
Another highlight found compared to other holly plants is the black ornamental berries persist throughout the cold months. Hence, it adds cool-season interest to the landscape. Still, you will need both male and female hollies to produce berries.
II. How to Grow and Care
Sunlight
While your female plant to male holly produces lush greenery, it needs enough light to achieve this. The Soft Touch holly needs full sun to partial sunlight for at least eight hours daily. Extreme heat helps provide some part shade to protect the new growth.
Temperature and Humidity
The Soft Touch holly might not thrive in the USDA hardiness zones 8-9, where very high heat to humidity is present. Hence, we recommend you grow them where they can receive morning sun to afternoon shade compared to other shrubs.
Watering
After you plant your young shrub, it will need regular watering to keep the soil moist. While holly is a drought-tolerant plant, it needs consistent moisture for new growth.
And believe it feels silky when you touch holly like the Soft Touch. Once your tree matures, you can start reducing the water.
The rule is to check if the top two inches of the soil are dry before watering. As mentioned, this holly works ideal in mass plantings.
Soil
To give your Soft Touch holly the best start, plant them in spring or early fall. The Soft Touch prefers slightly acidic soil but needs to be well-suited for drainage. With good draining soil, it helps prevent diseases like root rot.
Fertilizing
The best time to feed your Soft Touch holly is early spring during the growing season. Choose a feed suitable for acid-loving plants that is balanced. Refrain from feeding your holly in winter as your plant goes dormant.
Pruning
Pruning Soft Touch holly will help encourage new growth to make it bloom more flowers, and it will help to retain its shape and size.
When removing dead branches, it helps to trim close to the trunk and flush with the bark. We recommend cutting above a leaf bud at an angle to control the plant’s size or shape. The bud is where the new growth will sprout.
Always use sterilized sharp pruning tools to prevent the spread of diseases.
Propagation
A great way to ensure you always have those bright red berries available to add winter interest to your garden is with propagation. Still, you will need a female and male plant grown close together. Yet, you can do propagation using cuttings or seeds.
By Cuttings
Here it would be best if you remember it is a lengthy task, and the time to take the cuttings depends on the cutting you want to use—softwood cuttings you can take in summer or late fall. For hardwood cuttings, the best time is in winter when your plant is dormant.
- Make your cuttings about a quarter inch below the leaf node when taking softwood cuttings; for hardwood cuttings, make a cut above or below the bud union for hardwood cutting.
- Then prepare a container with potting soil and some sand.
- Dip the cut end into rooting hormone and plant in the pot.
- Keep the cutting moist and bright with indirect light.
From Seeds
When you have a holly berry, it contains four seeds, but growing your tree from it is slow. It can take from 16 months to three years.
- Collect the berries and remove the skin.
- In cold water, rinse the seed and plant them in some soil-less potting medium in a large flat.
- Cover the flats and place your seeds outside, protected from the winter.
- By spring, you should see the seeds germinating, or you may need to leave them through to another winter.
Pests and Diseases
While deer resistant, the Soft Touch can get a condition known as chlorosis. It can happen when your holly grows in a high alkaline level, as they prefer acidic soils. As a result, the leaves start to yellow. Another concern is pests like spider mites and aphids.
It also helps prevent disease by keeping the holy trimmed, well-ventilated, and not overwatered to avoid root ball rot, mildew, or leaf spots.
III. Uses and Benefits
This variety of holly is great for a low foundation plant, soft textured evergreen shrub hedges, or planted in borders as an accent. Soft Touch dwarf Japanese holly is best as a mass-planting shrub.
IV. Soft Touch Holly Similar Plants
There are several varieties in the garden to enjoy berries in the home for decoration.
- Brass Buckle
Brass Buckle is another dwarf variety but not as common as the other hollies. It is a male variety with bright yellow foliage growing up to 18 inches tall. The foliage starts in green glossy leaves but turns yellow as it matures.
It can survive to heat well as it is not as prone to sunburn.
- Chubby Hubby
The holly has dark green foliage appearing black in the light. The shrub can grow up to 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The branches grow upright, and it is a female shrub that is very rare to find.
- Compacta
The Compacta plant size fits well into limited space, only growing up to 5 feet tall and wide. It has a mounding shape with glossy leaves. The female variety is an excellent replacement for the boxwood if you have acidic, moist, or clay.
