I'm in the springs too and planted holly last year. It did well getting through the winter. The house next door has
3 huge 6' plants right next to their house. So I think you would be fine planting them. Although I'm not sure if this is a good time of year if you are considering doing so now. Someone else needs to chime in.

I have a few holly bushes around - they seem to do ok in an alkaline soil. They don't grow all that quickly, the ones I have are maybe 3' high and 8 years old. But I never really fussed over them.

They sometimes get hit with spider mites. Deer, who haven't yet read the brochure about them being non-deer-palatable, will gnaw them to the ground when they're small.

They do well in the shade.

All in all, they make a decent addition to the garden, and are more attractive than a lot of stuff during the the winter.

I planted blue boy/blue girl (male and female) hollies seven years ago, and the deer hit them really hard. They never really recovered from those first two winters of deer damage. Some have died. I suspect they need more nutrients than my soil is offering. I should try to take better care and fertilize them, but I haven't done anything -- they're in a long, wide bed of trees that don't really need any fertilizer or care other than pruning, so I just don't think about them much. Perhaps if I hadn't neglected them, I'd be more impressed.