Did it put out a flush of new growth this spring? If not, then the tree is dying. Pull it up and examine the roots. See if you can tell why it did not grow. If you do not feel like you can make a proper diagnosis of the reason it is dying, take it to the county extension agent. Make sure you have all the necessary information for them to determine what is causing it to die. Information they would need is when did you plant it, what have you done to take care of it, have you sprayed anything around it or the area such as weed killer, watering, etc. I planted one just North of you last spring and it put out several inches of new growth this spring. It is in full sun, a very hot area. It is well mulched and watered weekly the first year (if we had no rain) and watered about every two weeks this year. Next year it will be watered every three weeks and then as needed. If you do not want to give up on the tree yet, dig down and take a root and soil sample. Contact the extension agent first for instructions if you have not done this before. You may have some type of root rot, perhaps caused by poor drainage.

Sorry I did not check this post earlier. In my part of the country, the most commonly sold male Foster Holly is 'Foster's #4'; the most commonly sold female Foster Holly is 'Foster's #2' Most of our local nurseries order in very few of the Foster's #4, and when they do they usually sinply label them "Male Foster Holly." Almost 5 years ago, the first time I wanted to plant a row of Foster #2 holly in a newly built neighborhood lot, where there were not yet many of that type holly shrub growing; the nursery where I purchased the Foster #2s from did not have any male Foster's on the lot. When I asked the nurseryman why, he told me that since most customers come in wanting female Fosters, they do not stock many male Fosters. He also told me that there were so many Hollys planted in local landscapes that even if I did not plant a male, the female Fosters I purchase should still produce berries. I bought ten of those three gallon sized potted female Foster Holly, Planted them and they did not produce berries the next spring and about 4 of them died, So I went back to the nursery and ordered 4 one gallon sized potted Foster's # 4s. My order must have been placed at the right time because they were able to obtain those male Foster's for me. Every year since then, my female Foster #2s cover themselves with green berries that turn red over the winter. The berry production on them is so heavy that even with the birds feeding on them; the red berries still can be seen on the shrubs through April and nearly all the way up to that new year's bloom time. Over the following years, I am discovering increasing incidents of mislabeling in the nursery industry. Because of that, now my rule of thumb is to purchase Fosters either during bloom time, or after the female Foster's berries have set. Two years ago at a very reputable nursery, I saw a Foster holly tagged as being a male, but upon closer inspection, I found green berries on the holly. Fortunately they had several more Foster's that were tagged as being males, so I purchased the best looking of those which also showed no signs of berries or female blooms. That Foster has grown nicely, and has never set berries. This spring a late frost delayed it's bloom time. It was almost early summer this year before it covered itself with male blooms, and the blooms seemed to last for a very long time. Early this summer, I found some nice looking Foster holly that were not tagged male or female, so I simply picked out two of the best looking ones which also had a fairly heavy set of berries. I planted these two female Fosters near the male I just described above. Hopefully, summer 2008 will find these two most recently planted female Fosters to be nearly covered with new green berries.

Enjoying nature, I never have tried pruning hollies to a certain size. I let mine get to the full size and shape that they're meant to attain. You probably could prune them to any size and shape you want, but after a few years you end up with big thick branches with leaves sticking out of them and it looks unnatural unless you like tightly pruned hedges. I still can hear Neil Sperry's voice in my head on his radio show saying that if you want to prune shrubs into square green boxes, why not just go out and build a plywood box and paint it green. (grin) Who am I to defy Neil Sperry and try to prune my hollies to a certain arbitrary size? So, mine were spaced as far apart as they needed to be in the first place because I had a good idea how big they'd get and they are fine now---roughly 12' tall and 5-6' apart. Those are the Burford hollies on the south side of the house. They shade the south porch from the summer sun, which is precisely what I wanted them to do. On the east side of the house, which is where the front part of the wraparound porch and the front door is located, I planted Dwarf Burford hollies in 2011 and they seem more like the size you'd want. I wanted a naturally shorter shrub there so we could sit on the porch and look out into the yard somewhat at least. Mine have really had to struggle through drought (i think I planted them in April of 2011 and it stopped raining soon thereafter and didn't rain for 90 days that summer) so they have grown relatively slowly for hollies, but now are about 5' tall and about 3-4' wide and they haven't reached their max size yet. I expect them to top out at around 8' tall and 4' wide, but time will tell. They are a loose informal hedge, which fits with our country Victorian house....all relaxed and sort of cottagey. It is your house, though, and they are your shrubs, so you should plant what pleases you and maintain them in the way that makes you happy. I'm a firm believer that a person's landscape plantings should reflect their tastes and anyone who doesn't like it can just go mind their own business. Well, except, I still have Neil Sperry's voice in my head and I agree with his comments about picking the right shrub to begin with so you don't have to prune your shrubs to an unnatural size or shape. That's just me, though. Some people love formally pruned hedges and they should have what they want. All those years of reading Neil's newspaper columns, his magazine and his books when we lived in Texas (as well as listening to his radio show and attending his Garden Shows) trained me to be a certain way as a younger gardener, and I have his voice in my head the way I have my dad's voice in my head, even though he is long gone. Scott, We have native possumhaw hollies and I love them, but they sucker like the devil and we've got one in the front yard we're going to take out. I hate to take it out because it is the bird feeder tree where we hang the feeders, but we'll just move them somewhere else. It just suckers endlessly and I'm tired of dealing with it. We'll leave the ones on the edges of the woods because it doesn't bother us if they form thickets, and the birds love the berries in late winter and early spring, though they won't touch them until all the other berries are gone. When the cedar waxwings are migrating through in spring, they get pretty much drunk on those fermented possumhaw berries. I feel like pretty much everything we plant has one poisonous part or another, so I plant what I want. If kids are around, I keep an eye on the kids, and teach them not to eat plant parts without checking with an adult first. No child has poisoned themselves on anything we grow yet, so I try not to worry about it. (And I grow several types of brugmansias and daturas, but the spiny seed balls are so hideous that I don't think I have to worry about kids getting hold of them and accessing the seeds.) When we were kids we ran all over the neighborhood and played and we all knew to go home immediately when our parents turned on the front porch light. None of us died or ever got seriously injured or ill. It was a wonderful childhood, and we had a woodland, a neighborhood pond, rocky cliffs to climb, etc. I appreciate that we got to be kids with no one hovering over us too much. Times have changed. And, just so you know, most poisonous plant parts have a bad taste, making it less likely kids will eat them. Or, they will cause you to throw up if you ingest them, so kids are not that likely to eat and swallow them. (However, some dogs will eat anything, so that is one thing to keep in mind if you have dogs.) It is a sad commentary on life in this century that kids cannot play tag. No wonder so many children have a weight issue. It is hard to stay physically fit if you cannot do anything because you might get hurt. That is just sad. Dawn

Where did you get said 'Prince/Princess'? If Home Depot (I've noticed they often tag their Blue hollies with 'Blue Prince/Blue Princess') , I wonder if they don't combine male-female plants in the same pot to assure a berry set. I bought one too and it does get a few berries, though not prolific. But as GardenGal said, if you're getting berries, that plant is female. A closeup pic of the holly flowers would reveal whether they are male or female. Male holly flowers have a depression in the middle; whereas the female flowers have a green developing ovule/berry.