Hi,
I'm trying to do almost all natives and edibles in our landscape here in midtown Atlanta. We've got a great 6 foot privacy hedge - however it is made of invasive privet. It must go, but I want to replace it with a native screening hedge. The site is steeply sloped and fairly dry and rocky, however, there is drip irrigation. If you dig down more than 2 feet, you hit solid granite which seems to run under our entire property.

I know that Hollies could survive and even thrive in these conditions and form a nice screen. However, I'm having a hard time finding a source for some 7-15 gallon native hollies.

Any suggestions on where to get the plants, and or alternative suggestions for such a narrow privacy hedge.

Many Thanks!
Erik Johnson
Johnson Land Design

Here is a list of plants that I made for myself (I have a similar list for trees):

Native evergreen shrubs:

Hobblebush (Agarista populifolia, used to be Leucothoe populifolia), 8-12 feet
Doghobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana), up to 5 feet (L. axillaris is similar)
Fetterbush (Lyonia lucida), up to 6 feet
Inkberry (Ilex glabra)
Florida Anise (Illicium floridanum) – part shade; I. parviflorum is bigger and more sun tolerant.
Rhododendron maximum or R. catawbiense - afternoon shade
Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) - afternoon shade


Dwarf Native evergreen shrubs:

Agarista populifolia ‘Leprechaun’
Ilex glabra ‘Compacta’ up to 6 feet
Ilex glabra ‘Shamrock’, slowly growing to 5 feet
Morella cerifera ‘Don’s Dwarf’, ‘Fairfax’, both up to 6 feet
Morella cerifera ‘Suwanee Elf’, seems to be up to 4 feet
Kalmia latifolia ‘Elf’, ‘Minuet’
Ilex vomitoria ‘Nana’ (male plant, no berries)
Ilex vomitoria ‘Schillings Dwarf’ or ‘Stokes dwarf’

You might want to consider smaller plants to start with - if you hit rock below 2 feet, can you really plant a 15 gallon plant? Just something to consider - you might be able to find 5-7 gallon plants more easily.

I have found that Nearly Native Nursery is helpful in finding things. Other nurseries like Buck Jones seem to have access to order things and they normally carry some of these plants. Those are just two that I am familiar with. You can check out our resource page: http://gnps.org/resources/Native_Nurseries.php
I think a couple may be out of business; we're working on updating the page.

GNPS also has 3 large plants to sell: 3 B&B Juniperus virginiana. You can see pictures here (only the 3 B&B are left): http://gnps.org/shortterm/Plant_Sale_PlantPix.php

Thanks Ellen!
There's a couple plants in your lists that are new to me (fetterbush, morella), so I'm glad I asked! I might go with standard Inkberry, but will have to poke around and see what's available - your suggestions are a great help for that.
Thanks Again!
Erik Johnson