Hi everyone, I seem to have poor luck with my yard. I have had these established Nellie Stevens Hollies in ground for approximately 10 years now. They are about 12 to 14 feet tall. They have always been healthy but this year the are about 60% with brown or near outer edge brown leaves. See attaches photo. The branches look healthy. I live in the north east Unites States in NJ. It was a harsh winter as was last year. I'm not sure if this is winter damage or root rot or a fungus or another concern with pool. - my yard is pretty wet but I had put in a perimeter French drain system 10 years ago as well as surface drains and it does very well. - the trees (I have 10)sit on a raised berm around my pool from 1-3 feet above grade (don't think too much water is an issue) - They are approximately 12-20 feet from pool (converted to salt water 2 years ago but I would not think too much would get to them...and they are above pool level) - approximately 2-3" of accumulated mulch and weed mat that I'm going to remove to aerate and fertilize with holly tone this year. - about 60 established boxwoods that also surround pool patio have yellowed this year. - 10 hollies in back corner about 100' from pool show same condition Can anyone offer suggestions as to the cause and if there is recovery from whatever cause? Is there anything else I should look at? Your time is much appreciated.
What zone are you? - Nellie Stevens Hollies are listed as zone 6-9 And if you had a harsh winter, it almost looks like your trees got "weather burned" from exposure. If they're not too bad (meaning if they still have some green on the leaves) then they should recover with new grown; nothing will help the affected leaves. We had a harsh winter in 2013/2014 and I had a couple of Pineapple Guava that got "burned" really bad (not a single leaf was untouched) and I thought I'd lose them but as the weather warmed up they started sending out new growth and both made a full recovery.
