Nellie Stevens is a hybrid between English and Chinese holly, so if you get a male Chinese holly you will be assured of heavy fruiting. Dirr lists two male cultivars, Gable #76, which is short and pyramidal, and Tall Stallion. I've heard that Chinese hollies don't need males too, but then why are there so many Nellie Stevens around that don't fruit much? Too young, pruned at the wrong time? I've always wondered. There is a gorgeous Nellie Stevens at the front of Pender Nursery in Garner that fruits heavily, but there's hollies all over the place there, as it is a big wholesale nursery. One of the guys told me that the one there was 15 years old at the time and it takes a while for Nellies to look like that one.

We had a very wet, heavy 8" snowfall here in VA in March. I had just paid a fortune to get my hollies pruned and the weight of the snow threatened to snap several limbs. My *brilliant* solution was to go out several times and beat the snow off the hollies with a long pole. This resulted in so many cracked leaves and broken laterals, they looked as though they were all diseased a few weeks later. Upon closer inspection, they were fine-- just abused. Your photo looks like my poor hollies. If you want confirmation, I suggest taking some clippings to your local garden center or extension service (not big box retailer garden dept) If the extension dudes don't know, they will find the answer for you.

I have 3 Nellie Stevens in the Lancaster PA area and the last two winters have been very hard on them. Like the others said, new leaves are replacing damaged ones. I would hardly call this plant 'relatively fast growing' though. Ours have experienced about 6" of growth the last couple springs. Why don't you look to planting the native Ilex opaca? The one I have is faster growing than the NS. Plus it holds up better in the winter.

I would keep it in shade and covered with a wet sheet/quilt while it is out of the ground and hose it down every couple of hours. Lay it on something the moment you get it out of the ground- a tarp or something easy to drag so you don't lose soil while trying to carry/move it. If it turned hot and sunny after the procedure I would lightly shade it with something rigged up with same sheet, some stakes, and some clothespins for a week or two. This will go fine as long as you pay attention to the plant- I have been forced to move things in extreme heat of summer and they are fine if care is taken. But plan on things taking far longer that you expect and don't dig it out until you are sure you have all your supplies on hand, help lined up, everything ready etc. I apologize if things I mention are just common sense to you- you never know how much thought someone has given something like this :) To ease your mind I once lifted every plant on my property for a new fence installation in extreme South Florida heat. We had trees in pots, trees in buckets, trees in wheelbarrows, palms wrapped in wet sheets and quilts laying around everywhere, and they laid there for days. Didn't lose a thing. Just be aware and be careful.