My Holly Bushes are not “looking so good” after the winter

Question

My four year old female holly bushes are not looking so good after I took the winter tenting off of them. There seems to be a lot of dead leaves, over most of the bush. . . . are they completely dead? Should I prune off all of the dead leaves (which is most of the bush?) Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Yes, you can prune out the dead growth. In fact, you can cut the plant back by a third of its growth to help rejuvenate it, though this will affect berry production but if it's looking poorly anyway, this shouldn't be an issue right now.