Mutchagara Holly ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ · Ilex mutchagara ‘Nellie R. Stevens’

The cultivar reaches 4 to 6 m in height with a 3 to 5 m spread, building a pyramidal habit dense enough to read as a solid green volume from establishment onward. Foliage is glossy dark green with lightly spined ovate margins, and the form holds its outline without shaping. For the international specifier working in Spain, this is a more compact, more consistently pyramidal screening evergreen than Ilex aquifolium and a finer-textured alternative to Quercus ilex where the project asks for an evergreen wall rather than a broad-crowned shade tree.

Hardiness sits within the 6a to 9b range, comfortably below the central meseta's continental minima around -10 °C in Castilla and Aragón. The natural climatic fit is the humid Atlantic northwest, the cornisa cantábrica from Galicia through the Basque Country, where Ilex aquifolium itself is native. Along the Mediterranean coast and the Levante, summer heat is tolerated where irrigation is managed; this is not the dryland performance of encina or Cupressus sempervirens, and the cultivar is best avoided as a low-water solution in the semi-arid southeast around Almería and Murcia.

Water demand is moderate, not low. Plan for regular irrigation through the first two to three summers to establish the root system; once mature, the cultivar accepts a summer dry period under Atlantic and northern continental rainfall but expects supplementary water through Mediterranean summers. Under restriction once established, expect reduced fruit set and slower extension growth rather than canopy collapse. This is not a xeric specification and the water-use envelope should be stated honestly in the proyecto de ajardinamiento.

Soils may be acidic, alkaline, sandy, or clay provided drainage is reliable, and urban pollution is tolerated for specification in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia street and plaza contexts. Full sun to partial shade are both accepted, with denser fruiting in higher light. Growth is slow to moderate, so target calibre is reached over several seasons; the trade is a finished specimen that holds form with minimal corrective pruning. White flowers in March to May feed pollinators, and red fruit on female specimens persists from December through February for birds.