'Burford' holly (I. cornuta 'Burford'), might work - it will eventually get to about 20', but mostly gets there very slowly, staying at your desired height for a good while - it will produce more berries with a pollenizer, but will also do well without one. I. c. 'Needlepoint' is another possibility - to 8-12'. I. c. 'Willowleaf' is supposed to get to 15' - I've not seen it, so as to be sure. I. c. 'Dwarf Burford' will stay 8' or less, and has little berry production, in my experience.

I. 'Dr Kassab' gets to 15-20', I. 'Ebony Magic' 8-12', needs 'Ebony Male' as pollenizer. I. 'Emily Bruner' gets to 12-20', needs 'Jamees Swann' as pollenizer.

The various Yaupon hollies might work as well, growing 15-20' - I. vomitoria 'Katherine' has yellow berries, 'Pride of Houston' is more upright growing, with small red berries. Since the Yaupons will tolerate salt well, they might be better next to the dog-run fence.

Unfortunately, I think you will have to prune all of these to get the height and narrowness you want.

There are shrubs that grow narrow, but you would need a lot of them to cover 47' (at 2-3' width, you would need 15-23 plants) - the upright form of Japanese Plum Yew (better in part to full shade, but with lots of water might handle full sun), Ligustrum 'Rotundifolia', or an upright form of Euonymus, whose varietal name escapes me at the moment. And most of these are very slow growing...

Thanks for the information. I'm a little concerned about the comment about Blue Prince/ess) might needing shading if it's hot & dry. The area I'm going to be planting won't get much shade. I'll do some research on the Burford. Any feedback on the Dragon Lady? I've seen so many contradicting reports regarding size. Would like to know what's realistic.

First post here! Fellow Middle-Tennessean, and I came on to ask a very similar question but for a different reason. :) Hi!

Did you know that Hollys are toxic to dogs, particularly the berries? :( I have two Labs who think that everything in the world was meant to go in their mouth, so I have had to do a lot of research on plants that could potentially hurt them. I have never found what I felt was reliable information on just how toxic holly really is - I've read everything from a tummyache to death - but most sources seem to agree that it is toxic to some extent. Makes sense, really, if you consider that the Latin name of many hollies includes "vomitoria!"

Now, having said that, I have a privacy fence and I am looking for a holly to put outside of it to give me some additional privacy. So, my question was going to be about finding a male holly that would do well in partial shade under a deciduous tree, and reach about 12' tall. I think I can feel pretty safe with a male that's not dropping berries, and I have room to plant it far enough from the fence that they could never get hold of a leaf.

Hi Connie,

Interesting point I wasn't considering. My sasquatch looking ruffian, Zeus the Wonder Dog, also is an avid sampler of the unusual, though he's nothing compared to the dogs next door, who recently ate a couch. Amazing what two 100+lb dogs can do...

Go to the top of the page and in the search box type in 'toxicity of holly berries'. There's a great stream of responses on one posting titled something like 'Need a new shrub'. You'll be greatly entertained with some good information thrown in as well. Just in case I didn't title it correctly, I did a cut and paste from one of the posters:

"I meant to add that some plants are far more poisonous to humans than to animals, and vice versa -- so that makes a difference, too.
Here are several more websites that might be useful:

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/anispecies.html
http://www.la-spca.org/education/gardening.htm
http://www.dog-first-aid-101.com/toxic-garden-plants.html

All good sites. You'll see that a LOT of common garden plants (including most bulbs) are potentially poisonous. The reality is that your dogs are unlikely to focus much on your plants unless they are inveterate chewers or are bored stiff ... I thought this one quote (from the second link) was great:

POISONOUS PLANTS
There are differences in the toxic effects of plants on dogs and cats, as well as goats, iguanas, etc. Accordingly, I am providing the Internet website for Cornell UniversityÂs poisonous plant list, which they keep updated as new plants are introduced and new toxicities are discovered. The site is http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/anispecies.html. Once you take a look at the site, you will see it is very extensive. I am reminded of a recent episode of Emergency Vets where a dog was undergoing surgery for getting a stick lodged in his throat. The point is that even a stick can be dangerous to your pet. Use good judgment. If you have a puppy or a dog prone to chewing, take a good hard look at the plants in your yard and their potential to poison. However, if you have an adult dog who has no propensity to chew, many plants with some toxicity potential can be used in your yard without creating a great risk of danger." "

From what I read it's amazing the number of plants considered toxic to one degree or another. Am curious what you find out and will try to do some research myself.

Still looking for some good feedback on the Dwarf Burford compared to the Dragon Lady and/or any other holly that might meet my needs. Due to the houses being so close together here, I don't want a holly that's going to extend more than 4'-6'wide.

Hi Connie,

Interesting point I wasn't considering. My sasquatch looking ruffian, Zeus the Wonder Dog, also is an avid sampler of the unusual, though he's nothing compared to the dogs next door, who recently ate a couch. Amazing what two 100+lb dogs can do...

Go to the top of the page and in the search box type in 'toxicity of holly berries'. There's a great stream of responses on one posting titled something like 'I need a shrub'. You'll be greatly entertained with some good information thrown in as well. Just in case I didn't title it correctly, I did a cut and paste from one of the posters:

"I meant to add that some plants are far more poisonous to humans than to animals, and vice versa -- so that makes a difference, too.
Here are several more websites that might be useful:

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/anispecies.html
http://www.la-spca.org/education/gardening.htm
http://www.dog-first-aid-101.com/toxic-garden-plants.html

All good sites. You'll see that a LOT of common garden plants (including most bulbs) are potentially poisonous. The reality is that your dogs are unlikely to focus much on your plants unless they are inveterate chewers or are bored stiff ... I thought this one quote (from the second link) was great:

POISONOUS PLANTS
There are differences in the toxic effects of plants on dogs and cats, as well as goats, iguanas, etc. Accordingly, I am providing the Internet website for Cornell UniversityÂs poisonous plant list, which they keep updated as new plants are introduced and new toxicities are discovered. The site is http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/anispecies.html. Once you take a look at the site, you will see it is very extensive. I am reminded of a recent episode of Emergency Vets where a dog was undergoing surgery for getting a stick lodged in his throat. The point is that even a stick can be dangerous to your pet. Use good judgment. If you have a puppy or a dog prone to chewing, take a good hard look at the plants in your yard and their potential to poison. However, if you have an adult dog who has no propensity to chew, many plants with some toxicity potential can be used in your yard without creating a great risk of danger." "

From what I read it's amazing the number of plants considered toxic to one degree or another. Am curious what you find out and will try to do some research myself.

Still looking for some good feedback on the Dwarf Burford compared to the Dragon Lady and/or any other holly that might meet my needs. Due to the houses being so close together here, I don't want a holly that's going to extend more than 4'-6'wide.

Oh. My. Gosh. A couch. hahaha! That was hilarious :)

My two are almost four, so they are past the puppy chewing stage. But with Labs, you can never be too careful. They love to graze occasionally, so that worries me. But, I admit, I am a worrywart :) When Angus, my oldest and a notorious eater of non-food objects, was a puppy I ended up de-landscaping 75% of our back yard. I still do not trust him any farther than I can throw him ;) I once paid $2,500 to have something removed from his stomach, so now I am bound and determined that he will not have access to anything that should not go in his stomach! Because if it can fit in his mouth, there's a good chance it's going down. :)

I appreciate the link to Cornell! I will be checking that out next - I had never come across that one. One of my favorites on toxic plants was UC Davis, and ASPCA keeps a pretty good one too. On the ASPCA's site, you can click the name of the plant and it will tell you the effects of toxicity. So that's pretty neat. Not a huge list though.

Good luck in finding your bushes! Sorry I can't be of help there - I'm looking for advice on types of hollies too.

Oh, and here is the UC Davis link, if you're interested:

http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/ce/king/poisplant/tox-com.htm

My conditions are much like that of the tygerman. I have a 40' space to fill. I was wondering if tygerman could update us with what he decided to do or if someone else could weigh in on this matter.

Thanks