Hefner’s Centerfolds

On a recent trip to Asheville, I made a long overdue stop at Hefner’s Nursery in Conover, NC. I have known about Hefner’s Nursery for decades, and always admired their plants at our state nursery trade show, but had never managed to visit. I was prompted to finally stop after running into current president, Randy Hefner, a NCSU graduate, at a recent nursery meeting. The nursery, which serves both wholesale and retail customers, is managed by Randy, and his two nephews, Kevin and Mark Gantt.

Randy is a top flight plantsman, as was evidenced by treasures I found tucked everywhere. I first wanted to see Randy’s introduction, Acer palmatum ‘Hefner’s Red’, which is widely considered one of the finest summer red Japanese maples ever introduced. This originated decades earlier as a field grown seedling that Randy selected because it stayed quite red through the summer, which isn’t normal for Japanese maples. The photo below is of Randy and his namesake at the end of a brutally hot July.

What I didn’t expect was Randy’s new holly introduction, Ilex x koehneana ‘Hefflash’ (sold commercially as Raspberry Flash). This amazing sport of Ilex ‘Wirt L. Winn’, was discovered at their nursery, and the plant pictured below is one of the original propagations, having now reached 20′ in height x 14′ wide. Ilex x koehneana is the name used for the group of hollies that are hybrids between Ilex latifolia and Ilex aquifolium. I’ve seen plenty of amazing hollies in my 65+ years, but never anything that stopped me in my tracks like Ilex ‘Hefflash’. Yes, I came home with a small specimen. It’s just beginning to enter the trade, so if you have space in your garden, keep your eyes out for this gem.