whats your zone?

why do you think it needs protecting.. are you zone pushing???

i used to have best luck.. applying protections after full dormancy ... but if you have to pound in stakes.. before ground freeze [only made that mistake once.. lol] ...

and then the collection grew so large.. i started to wonder why i had all these plants that needed all this protection in late fall [read that: heavy manual labor] .. and then stopped doing it.. and now i am happier ..

good luck with your holly

ken

ps: whether or not you protect it.. first winter transplants MIGHT have a hard time .... so do the best you can.. and then write it off to the fates ... whatever happens.. happens.. you did your best ... and dont kill it with too much love ...

Sorry, Zone 6 near Boston. I thought it needed protecting because in a previous post, where I expressed my happiness that my transplanted holly was coming back from the brink of death, someone pointed out the the new growth was probably coming too late in the season to harden off before winter. It started putting out growth at the end of July/beginning of August.

Thanks!

I'm also in zone 6 and my hollies seem to be completely hardy. The Burford's (?) I planted late last fall did not make it though. I was warned that they were not as cold hardy as the Blue Girl and Dragon Lady I also grow.

I used to try to protect all kinds of things. Protection can lead to disease and rodent problems. I would just go natural and rely on the survival of the fittest.