leaves falling off a male holly tree

Question

We have had a summer drought and a very cold and windy winter. Most of the
leaves on my holly tree fell after a very cold and dry spell. It was green one day and the next day most of the leaves had fallen off. It now looks very much like a “Charlie Brown Christmas tree. The bare branches look to me like there a buds on them. I really like this tree but have no idea as to what I need to do. I do not have a way to upload pictures, but would really appreciate any suggestions you may have. The tree was planted about 2 years ago and made it just fine through the previous winters. As you can probably tell I do not have much gardening experience.

Answer 1

It does sound like the quick change along with dry roots has led to this. I would prune back pretty drastically, and keep the soil slightly moist until it recovers. It should soon shoot up new growth as it start to recover from the shock.