Jenny,
Your holly is very close to a wall, which means it is more subject to soil
dryness generally and drought specifically. It appears to be scorched ..
and hungry. Do you feed it?
I don't rule out pests or diseases (I will do a spot of research), but I'm
sure it would help if its general health was improved.
Yes, certainly remove any fallen leaves .. then fork some general fertiliser
into the soil around the base of the plant .. water thoroughly, then mulch.
As to pruning: if the plant IS starved, removing leaves and plant tissue now
will only exacerbate the problem. If it were my holly, I would wait 2-4
weeks after feeding and then reassess the plant. The top growth of your
holly looks better than the sides, so I would only cut back the side growth
this year. Next year may show an improvement. If it does, I would then
want to cut back the top growth to promote growth on the sides.
Hope this helps.
Spider
JennyC wrote in message
...
Hi

I promised to post some pictures of my browning holly bush.........:

http://members.rott.chello.nl/ldejag...x.OddsSods.htm

its' been in the same spot for years without any problems. Now it's
going brown.

I need to do something about it, and it will obviously need cutting
back as the leaves to not look as if they can be saved.

My question is really what is wrong with it and when should I prune it
hard back?

TIA Jenny