I have one large male holly tree and several small female japanense holly shrubs. All are located in the landscapping next to the house. The large holly is 3 years old, the shrubs are 6 years old. All were beautiful until just now! We had a very warm December followed by a very cold and unusually wet January & February. I live in Northern KY. The large tree just up and died. It went from green to brown, lost all of it's leaves in a matter of days. Now the shrubs are doing the same thing. I do not see any bugs, the leaves do not have spots. The leaves are just turning brown and falling off. I guess I will loose all of them but does any one know what happened?
This is very strange. Are we speaking about normal holly as per christmas cards. Around here fire drought hacking out will not kill them. They are considered a noxious weed. The only thing that I can think of if normal holly maybe some sort of poison has got into their system. If something a little more special then possibly it did get dry. just a thought Liz
Have you had a lot of wind?Sometimes hollies will wind burn and look really bad.Cut a small branch or two and see if it is still green inside,be fore you pull them.The 3 hollies I take care of did this.
Summer drought stress can possibly cause evergreen or any plant to defoliate and or die the following year when it comes out of dormancy.
