Yaupon is borderline in upper zone 7. Some cold years it can freeze back. I do not believe it is native to Long Island, but I could be wrong. Goodness, for zone 7 there are SO very many hollies that are better looking than American Holly. Fosters #2 is nice, fast, good berries. Smaller leafed. Nellie Stevens is the default holly planted here. Takes shearing very well, but does get TALL. Look into 'Mary Nell'. Incredible leaf gloss and BERRIES, oh so many berries most years. 'Blue Maid' is a nice very hardy blue holly which grows slowly to 12 feet. It takes its time and will not need much pruning. Castle Wall is a very upright grower. (another Blue Holly). Chindo Viburnum might be worth looking into, if it's hardy in your area. Fast grower, very glossy, no spines. This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Mon, Sep 16, 13 at 9:43

My goodness. I might have to buy a Nellie Stevens and carry it next to mine to see the differences. So far my best moment identifying plants was with Fraxinus family ash trees. The "U" shaped bud of the Fraxinus Americana white ash helped me out. Anything similar I should be looking for? The foliage is too variable. My two identical Holly of some kind trees both bloomed lightly last year. Neither has ever had a berry. Bloom time this year is soo early. Of course March was the warmest in 130 year of record keeping. heard it would have been a top ten warm April! My plan is to hunt down dwarf/small varieties of both Ilex opaca and Ilex cornuta and hope I get lucky.

Well it is about time! American Holly is a native down here on the south coast, with huge tree sized specimen's growing in the woods near my house and some spectacular 40 footers in yards. They pop up like weeds on my property, but I have never had much luck transplanting. And I almost never see them in the local nurseries. This has never made sense to me. They sell many other holly cultivars locally, some not so well suited to our winter climate (like English Holly) but they pass over the hardier native. I know Sylvan nursery in Westport MA has had them in the past, but only super large sizes that cost mega bucks and require a large truck to move.

American Holly can actually grow in a lot colder zones than people realize. I have several small ones I am growing here in Iowa zone 5 with no problem. On really cold winters it gets down to -30 to -35. Of course those are the extremes, the average hits -15 to -20. I originally moved here from PA and they were very common out there. One of the most beautiful trees in the winter. Ilex Opaca is very hard to find in the nursery trade. You can check out Forrest Farm or Holly Ridge Nursery. There is a Nursery in Butler, PA called Orlando Pride Nursery where they bred several cultivars to take heavy snow loads and put up with the extreme cold.