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Ornamentalshrub ornamentalStraightforward

Mahonia

Mahonia × media

One of very few substantial evergreens that flowers in the depth of winter, scented, in shade, on poor dry soil. It is architectural rather than pretty and the leaves are genuinely spiny, so it wants placing where it will be seen and not brushed against.

Position
Partial shade or Dappled shade or Full shade
Water
low demand
Drainage
Moisture-retentive, Free-draining
Grows to
200–400 cm × 200–350 cm
Hardiness
H5
Flowers
November to February
Difficulty
Straightforward

August

Nothing to do

No sowing, planting, harvesting or pruning window falls in August.

Mahonia’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

ActivityJFMAMJJASOND
PlantMarch. April. October. November.
In flowerJanuary. February. November. December.
PruneApril. May.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Conditions it needs

Light
Partial shade, Dappled shade, Full shade
Frost
Very hardy
Hardiness rating
H5 (RHS)
Grows best at
8–24 °C
Soil
Loam, Clay, Chalky
Soil pH
5.5–7.5
Drainage
Moisture-retentive, Free-draining
Water needs
low
Drought
good tolerance
Waterlogging
poor tolerance
Heat
moderate tolerance
Wind and exposure
moderate tolerance
Where these figures come from
LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — position

Checked 2026-08-13

FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Hardiness ratingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — temperature

Checked 2026-08-13

SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Mahonia × media — culture

Checked 2026-08-13

DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

Copes with the dry shade under trees once established.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

SoilVerdictWhy
Heavy clayWorks, with one conditionMahonia will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
SandyPrefers this soilSandy suits Mahonia as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 5.5 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Chalky and alkalinePrefers this soilChalky and alkaline suits Mahonia as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Chalky soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
LoamPrefers this soilLoam suits Mahonia as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 5.5 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
SiltyPrefers this soilSilty suits Mahonia as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 5.5 to 7.5, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acidWorks, with one conditionMahonia will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rockPrefers this soilShallow over rock suits Mahonia as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Made ground and urban soilWorks, with one conditionMahonia will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height
200–400 cm
Mature spread
200–350 cm
Rooting depth
60 cm
Spacing
150–250 cm apart
Where these figures come from
Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

SpacingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — spacing

Checked 2026-08-13

How far apart to plant mahoniaThree mahonia plants drawn in a row at their recorded spacing of 150–250 cm between plants. The spacing is drawn to scale against a one metre rule; the plants themselves are symbols rather than scale drawings, so the distance between them is the part to read.150–250 cmone metre
Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

In a container

Minimum volume
30 litres or more
Minimum depth
40 cm
Where the container figures come from
Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — cultivation

Checked 2026-08-13

Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — cultivation

Checked 2026-08-13

Workable in a large pot, and the low suckering kinds such as Mahonia aquifolium suit it better than the tall architectural hybrids, which get top-heavy. Loam-based compost, shade or part shade, and steady watering — a mahonia that dries out repeatedly gets scorched leaf margins. Its real value in a container is winter: scented yellow flowers in December on an evergreen, by a door where they are noticed.

Habit and ultimate size

What the plant becomes, rather than what it is when you buy it. The gap between the two is where most planting mistakes live.

Foliage
Evergreen
In a container
Not a realistic container plant
Where these figures come from
FoliageSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia × media — foliage

Checked 2026-08-13

In a containerHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Growth rate
Moderate — roughly 30–60 cm a year
Ultimate height
200–400 cm
Ultimate spread
200–350 cm
Time to reach it
10–20 yearsSourced guidance
Where these figures come from
Growth rateSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia × media — growth rate

Checked 2026-08-13

Ultimate heightSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia × media — ultimate height

Checked 2026-08-13

Ultimate spreadSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia × media — ultimate spread

Checked 2026-08-13

Time to reach itSourced guidancelow confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia × media — time to ultimate size

Checked 2026-08-13

Root space. Copes with root competition from established trees better than almost any other evergreen shrub, which is what makes it the standard answer to dry shade. It still wants a first summer of watering to get established in that position.
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Cutting it back. Breaks freely from bare old wood, so a bare-legged plant can be cut to 30–50 cm and will rebuild. Done to one or two stems a year it keeps a mahonia furnished to the ground indefinitely.
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

How it spreads. Suckers gently at the base, forming a slowly widening clump rather than running.
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Value to wildlife

Recorded only where the evidence names a resource and the months it is available. Most plants flower; that on its own is not what this section is about.

Nectar
A significant source
In flower
Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
Where these figures come from
NectarSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia × media — value to pollinators

Checked 2026-08-13

What keeping this costs

Prune after flowering rather than before it. Mahonia is one of very few substantial nectar sources open in midwinter, when a bumblebee queen roused by a mild spell has almost nothing else to go to, and an autumn tidy-up removes the whole of that.

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

MethodSuitabilityWhat it needs
Open groundWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Traditional dug bedWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Raised bedWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

ContainerMarginal
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

  • PruningCut leggy stems right down to 30–50 cm after flowering; mahonia breaks freely from old bare wood and rebuilds within two seasons. Done on a rotation of a stem or two a year, it keeps a plant furnished to the ground indefinitely, which is otherwise its main weakness.
  • PlantingOne of the genuinely reliable answers to dry shade under established trees, a position where most evergreens either die or never thicken up. Give it a first summer of watering to establish and it will not need attention again.
Where this guidance comes from
PruningSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — pruning

Checked 2026-08-13

PlantingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — position

Checked 2026-08-13

Where to make a pruning cutFour stems compared. The first is cut cleanly on a slope about five millimetres above an outward-facing bud, sloping away from it, and is labelled correct. The second is cut too far above the bud, leaving a long stub that dies back. The third is cut too close, into the bud itself, which loses the shoot. The fourth is cut sloping towards the bud so rain runs onto it rather than away, which rots it. In every case the bud points outwards, away from the centre of the plant.Correct5 mm, sloping awayToo highstub dies backToo closebud lostSloping inrain sits on the bud
The bud you cut to becomes the new shoot, and it grows in the direction it points — which is why an outward-facing bud opens the plant up and an inward-facing one crosses the middle.

What goes wrong

ProblemHow oftenNotes
Berberis sawflyoccasional
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Safety and edibility

  • Contact hazardchildrenThe leaflets end in stiff sharp spines that puncture skin readily, and the leaves are held at face height on a mature plant. Weeding underneath one without gloves and long sleeves is genuinely unpleasant.
    source

    Sourced guidancehigh confidence

    • Royal Horticultural Society: Mahonia — spines

    Checked 2026-08-13

    Plant it back from paths and doorways rather than beside them, and wear gauntlets when pruning or clearing beneath it.

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.