Holly had tough Winter and came out looking dead

Question

We had 3 beautiful Holly bushes for over twelve years and they have always done well. This past Wisconsin winter they were covered with several feet of snow (almost double normal) and this spring as the snow melted they came out all brown and looked dead. Wife wants to pull them out and start over, but I hate to do that if we don’t have too. As time has passed, the inside of all three bushes still appears dead but we are getting some nice green growth around the out sides of the bushes. My thoughts were to cut the dead center out and hope the new growth would eventually fill in the hole. Then after reading a bunch of the tips from this site, I don’t know if I should cut out the dead centers, take off 1/3 over each bush over the next 3 years or just go for rejuvenating and cut them all back. What do you suggest?

Answer 1

Start by cutting out the dead branches. I think I would go for a rejuvenation pruning, but the choice is yours. Since you have 3 bushes, you might try a different approach with each one, to see what treatment you like best.