With its green, serrated leaves, the Okinawa Holly is a beautiful tree and also a good candidate for bonsai. The Okinawa Holly is native to the northern hemisphere. It produces attractive pink flowers in the spring and summer, which are offset beautifully by the toothed, glossy green leaves. It’s easy to grow indoors, copes well in semi-shade outdoors, and is very popular with bonsai lovers.

It’s important to make sure this plant gets lots of water. This is definitely the case just before the fruit bearing period, otherwise the berries will be damaged. Misting is the best way to water the Okinawa Holly, but this isn’t advised in the middle of the day. You should also reduce watering during the winter months.

By careful pruning, you can shape the Okinawa Holly into any shape you like. It has a very tender trunk, so you need to avoid using wiring for shaping. The branches are also quite brittle, and can be damaged by wiring. If you cut new shoots very close to the trunk you’ll be able to obtain a good shape. You can also prune the holly’s leaves to make them smaller if you need to.

Hollies can generally be shaped and sized in any way you choose, except for the evergreen varieties that don’t like being shaped into a broom style. You need to pay attention to growth patterns when you’re pruning. Some holly species grow upwards, and others grow horizontally. You should make sure that any pruning or wiring you do complements these tendencies.