Our theme is gray and white but would like to add a pop of color

@Jameszone7a Philadelphia Hi James – hope you are well. I began to write this response back in March and decided to wait and see how my holly looked. I have an Ilex ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ and it currently looks terrible. I know we live in similar weather conditions and this winter we had a spell of at least 2-3 weeks with temps hovering at 10-20 degrees all day - with snow covering everything. I was thinking your damage is Winterburn – and I assume some of my damage is also Winterburn. At this point, I am not hopeful regarding recovery. The holly has lost lots of leaves – more than usual in the winter / spring transition. On Apr 1 it was 80 deg / Apr 8 & 9 was frost at 29 & 27 deg / Apr 15 it was 91 deg – quite a swing! I think the frost damaged any new growth – and the frost was not kind to many other plants. It gets better – while taking photos I discovered that a woodpecker had made a meal of the trunk of the holly and I’m not sure if that also caused any damage. I read on an extension web site from Maryland – “Winterburn has been fairly severe and widespread this year due to the ongoing drought and the period of time during winter when the soil surface remained frozen so roots could not absorb moisture.” I guess I will have to wait and see - it was a nice holly. Good luck with your holly. Mar 15, 2026 Apr 13, 2026 Apr 13, 2026 May 7, 2026

Hi luis - thanks for your response. I am in Vancouver, WA. We’re currently at high 40’s to low 50’s for overnight temps. We’ve had a very mild winter. Low snowpack in surrounding mountains so it was a bad ski season & we may be in a drought year ahead. But, our winter was our usual wet down here at my elevation & we had a wet spring too. My mopheads are really leafed out & my 2 year old Bobos in my sunnier west facing front yard are just starting to bud with leaves. I do have a 3 year old Little Quick Fire about 8’ away from this LL & it is leafing very well. I keep checking the branches on this LL for signs of life since it’s unusually warm here now. Nothing. It’s the back 3 stalks / trunks that are leafless. In early March I did prune a lot more off than I usually do. I’m not sure how long I should wait before trying to dig it out. Is it unusual for half a plant to behave differently? Could that harder pruning be the reason? I did prune more off the back. I don’t see any damage around the base of the plant.

I would do away with the rustic half-barrel planters altogether. They promote a cluttery look plus require personal attention regularly (handwatering, etc). You don’t say how old grandma is nor her ability to do that, but I know (as a 70+ year old grandma myself), I find random, widely separated pots a PITA. And none of us are getting any younger. The hedge along the house does not look well-groomed. Does grandma need someone to help take care of hedge pruning on a regular basis?