I have a very large (35 feet?) American holly that is about 35 years old. The trunk is maybe 10-12 inches in diameter. It once had long branches that swept the ground. It's not a weeping form. I did have to limb it up because it just took up too much space. Now I have partial shade perennials under it. From the many times I've had it pruned, a few times very severely, it seems like you really can't do any harm by cutting back. The only thing is that there probably won't be any berries this year since it's late in the season. And that's assuming that this is a female plant that you're dealing with. Good luck with it.

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Sure, I'll be by tomorrow with my backhoe to rip it out. . .that sure is one
ugly sounding holly, which is why I'd probably rip it out and start over
with a more site-appropriate variety. Don't know if renewal pruning
(cutting back to 6"-12" above the ground) works on a holly, like it
would on a rhodie, but from your description of this plant, I can't see how
anything short of renewal pruning will make much difference.

Carl

Dee, we have cut a holly down to the ground and let it come back from nothing and it did and looks beautiful now. I keep it small and full. Richie

Dee, I agree with Richie. As I said above, you really can't seem to do much harm cutting back severely. It will need regular shearing afterwards though......once a year in winter if you want berries the following season, again assuming that it's a female. If it's a male, it can be cut at any time since it would never have berries anyway.

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Thanks guys. I guess you are right - it probably can't look much worse than it does now! Replacing it is out of the question, I believe. This is a friend's yard. She is not much of a gardener, doesn't want to spend a lot of money, and just wants the bed cleaned out and shaped up a bit. So I guess pruning it is! .... gulp!

I guess I have this fear that I will cut it back and then nothing will happen and it will stay all chopped-up looking and ugly. I mean, obviously, the rational side of me says that SOMETHING will grow, but you know how the irrational side can always take over!

Okay, so what about the quince?

Thank you!
Dee

I love pruning Hollies because they are so forgiving. And they respond pretty quickly to whatever you do by filling in more and producing brand new pretty foliage. If you make a mistake it's pretty easy to fix and if you take off a little too much before you know it, it has new growth enough to correct it.

I am trying to imagine the shrub you are talking about and even with not a lot of growth near the trunk, in my experience with Blue Hollies, they can fill in again after pruning. I had a Princess Holly that I bought in the clearance department that was about 5ft tall and balled and burlapped. It was also sparse but had an overall fair shape. It cost me $30. so I could afford to experiment. When I got it home, and planted it, half the rootball was like cement. Seriously. So I had my doubts if it would improve. It is now a very pretty 6ft shrub that is shiny and bushy. I pruned hard at some point, leaving some leaves on each branch. Tip pruned the fullest branches. Made sure I kept it watered well after pruning and it was already looking good last year, but this spring, I fertilized with Hollytone and watered and mulched it well and I'm very happy with it.

So from my experience, I would say you haven't got much to lose to see if you can prune it and get a happy result. And if you are ever going to have a positive experience that will help your confidence with pruning, I think Holly is a good shrub to try.

Good luck. Have no idea about the quince.

PM2, you brought up a good point - "Leaving some leaves on each branch". Do you think I should only prune back far enough so as to leave some leaves on the branches? The center is really pretty sparse, but does it need some leaves remaining to generate new growth?

Ugh, I have this vision of it, tall, sparse, with chopped off drooping branches about four feet long with a few leaves at the end, lol. Kinda like a Charlie Brown tree! But I suppose if it starts filling in better I can always prune again - sheesh, what am I saying, lol? "Prune again"?? I feel my inner monster being created...

Dee

Dee I don't think you necessarily have to leave foliage on the branches for it to come back fine. But there is another approach that I've used on lilacs to make sure I had flowers, and that is to prune half of the branches way back, and the other half not so far back. Choose every other one (as near as possible) so that you have the entire thing still looking decent. Then, when the new growth looks good on the ones you cut way back, you can go back and cut the other half way back. It takes more time, but is an option. Good luck.

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As usual, Bill has some solid advice. I've used a similar approach and thought that worked best when trying not to have an ugly mess for too long.

As for cutting back branches and leaving no leaves on them....well...maybe someone else knows whether that is a good idea. I never feel comfortable to do that, unless I am just cutting the whole shrub back to the ground and whether it comes back or not is not that important to me. Although I can't remember ever losing a shrub doing that. I've even cut back roses to 6 inch stubs with no leaves in July and had success. It sounds like javaandjazz has had success cutting hollies all the way back to the ground. I have wondered... does that have the same effect on the shrub as cutting a 7ft shrub to just trunk and stubs of branches with no leaves on them, or if you are cutting off most of the foliage is it better to cut the whole thing back to the ground?

I have a lot of American holly that volunteer here. I regularly cut it to the ground in hopes that it will not come back - it tends to sprout up in mixed shrub borders, and I often don't notice it until it's pretty well established. It ALWAYS comes back.

Quince - whack it back. It will grow back fuller. I have had painters whack mine back evenly across the back, and when I realized it looked better than the front, I did a modification of what Bill suggested. The thick branches I pruned to down near the ground and the thinner, newer ones I pruned back to about the size I wanted the shrub to be. Mine is a smaller type of quince ('Jet Trail') that tops out at about 4', but its width seems to be unlimited. Old fashioned quince can get quite tall and I probably would find it a chore to limit size on one too much, so your friend can decide if she just wants to whack it to ground level and then use herbicide or plan to get out there (or get you out there) to prune it fairly severely every couple of years. It blooms on old wood, so it needs to get pruned right after flowering in future years.

Thank you all for your help! I think I will do as Bill suggested and cut some branches back hard and not so much on the others. That sounds safe, lol.

And thanks for the info on the quince. I am feeling much better about taking on this project now!

Dee

Dee,
I am with you I still break out into a full sweat when I have a pair of pruners in my hand. I checked Hollies the Genus Ilex by Fred C. Galle. In this nearly six hundred page book the chapter on pruning recomends the following; Because deciduous hollies flower on old wood and on short spur growth along the stem, they can be pruned by renewal pruning.
Renewal pruning is practiced in late winter and involves removing or cutting back one third of the stems at the ground leaving stems 12 to 18 inches long. This can be done throughout the plant and not just on one side. Follow up pruning involves removing another one-third of old stems the second spring and the final third the third spring.
Evergreen hollies also benefit from renewal pruning, but it is more drastic than renewal pruning of deciduous hollies. Again, it is done in late winter or early spring (before new growth appears) and involves removing all stems and branches close to the ground, leaving stems 4 to 18 inches long. The strong vegetative growth that subsequently develops in late spring will require thinning and cutting back to encourage lateral branching and develop compact plants.
An alternate to complete rejuvenation is called hattracking or coatraking. This kind of pruning is often used on large pyramidal trees such as Ilex opaca or I. aquifolium and large rounded shrubs such as I. cornuta Burfordii. Using loppers and pruning saws, cut off the outer 3 to 4 feet of each branch 3/4 to 11/2 inch diameter starting from the ground level. As you work up the tree angle in to produce a narrow conical hattrack of leafless branches. Leave several short branches 5 to 8 inches long at the top. Although the tree is severely cut back in this type of pruning, the tree still retains its original shape.
Hatracking is best done in early spring, so new growth soon begins to cover the bare stems the first season. Do not prune branches back to the main trunk or flush with the tree trunk or you will stimulate shoots from the main trunk which will grow straight up parallel to the trunk; the final result will be a mess of upright shoots instead of well balanced new horizontal growing branches. In two years the plants will show no signs of being severely pruned.
Hope this helps.

Thank you Katy, that was indeed helpful, especially the part about not pruning flush with the trunk. That might have been something I would have done! And then I would really never prune again after seeing the results, lol!

Thanks,
Dee

Dee,
I think if you do the half and half as I suggested you'll be fine. It's pretty much in accordance with the info that was quoted to you. Prune half a little bit, and half a little more (but of course not to the trunk! LOL!) and then repeat next year and it will be fine. It will come back, believe me!

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I believe, Bill, I believe, lol! This will be the first thing I do when I get to my friend's house later in the week. This bed will probably take me all summer to do - it is very neglected and needs lots of yanking and cleaning - but I'm actually excited to go prune this holly. Gee, never thought I'd ever hear myself say that!

Dee

Dee,
Be sure to wear heavy armor! My holly leaves are like hypodermic needles! Good luck.

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