Gardening and Horticulture - Blue Princess Holly turning Brown

I've read the other posts on problems with hollies, and i still have a question. We had twelve very large (4 feet tall) hollies (Blue Princess) planted about 2 1/2-3 months ago. Most look great, but there is 1 (maybe 2) that don't look good. about 2 weeks ago, I noticed this one plant had two stalks that were completely brown (both leaves and stalk) from the base of the plant up. I trimmed it out, and we went away for a week. Now there are some more brown leaves on the plant with small areas of brown stems. Also, there are alot of green and yellow leaves on the ground around the plant. I checked the base of the plant, and there is no heaped up mulch around the trunk. the ground is pretty damp all the way down to as far as I could dig. We have not watered in weeks because we've been getting some pretty good rainstorms during the week. However, the earlier part of the summer was extremely hot and dry. It's only been in the cooler weather over the past two weeks that the plant doesn't look great. It is at the northeast corner of the house. The one next to it doesn't look spectacular (some yellowing leaves, but no brown ones). Should I fertilize with Hollytone? Anything else I should do? There is no evidence of mites/bugs that i can see.
Thanks.
Dave

Hi Dave,

I would suggest that before you fertilize you do a soil test to see if there are any nutrients missing. You may only need to add those. I would also suggest that you hold on to your receipt as you may have to have the nursery replace them come spring.

Wish I could be of more help,
Newt