For a small shrub, select between dwarf yaupon holly and dwarf Chinese holly. The dwarf yaupon holly forms a rounded top that usually stays at 3 feet. The leaves are small with no thorns.

A third small holly that makes a good foundation shrub is dwarf Chinese holly. With its crinkled kelly green leaves, it makes an attractive mound about 2½ feet tall and 3 feet wide.

Dwarf Chinese holly is less a globe than dwarf yaupon holly and more a mound. It stays at about 2½ feet tall and wide. The foliage is kelly green, opposed to the blue-green color of yaupon holly.

Chinese holly (Ilex cornuta) is a densely branched shrub or small tree. It has shiny, dark-green leaves that can be oval or so curled as to appear rectangular, with only single spines at the four ...

It does not bear fruit. Dwarf Chinese holly grows to 36 inches tall and 40 inches wide if never sheared. My plants started to bear fruit after they were 30 years old.

There are more than 400 holly species (Ilex spp.) with sizes that range from trees that can reach 50 feet tall to low-growing shrubs that max out at 2 feet tall.

One reputable online source says that Chinese holly, Ilex cornuta, can pollinate ‘Nellie Stevens’ holly. Chinese holly is the shrub that has so many spines on each leaf it’s scary to look at.

Other fragrant flowering trees include loquat, banana shrub and sweet olive. Trees like Burford Chinese holly, yaupon holly and eastern red cedar are great for providing a source of food for wildlife.