Help! For Broken Blue Holly Bushes

Question

We have blue prince/princess hollies that were doing very well–good growth from bottom to top, leaves in good shape, good berry production, etc. Unfortunately last fall our landscaping service broke and cut back almost half of the lower branches (cussing omitted, landscapers were fired). Now the poor things looks leggy and terrible. Can blue hollies be given a “hard prune” down to a short height that would enable them to re-grown in a less leggy way, or should I give up and just plant new ones? Thank you so much!

Answer 1

These hollies are surprisingly resilient and can take a hard prune — like, chopped down to 6–12 inches (15–30 cm) from the ground — and still bounce back if the roots are solid. Do it in late winter or early spring before new growth kicks in. After you cut them back, feed with a balanced slow-release fertilizer, mulch (but don’t choke the base), and wait. Might take a season or two to fill out again, but they usually regrow fuller and less leggy. Now, if they were already stressed, overwatered, or root-damaged before the landscaper wrecked ‘em, recovery might be rough. No shoots by midsummer? Yeah, they’re probably toast. But in most cases? They’ll fight back.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/shgen/pruning-shrubs.htm