If I severely prune my holly back will it re-grow?

Question:My holly was in shade and I don't like the way it grew.

Its all spread out. I want it to grow up like a tower.

I cut down the offending trees and now its in full sun.

If I prune it back very severely will it grow back right or should I buy a new one and give this one away?

Answers:
Hey John!

I concur with the previous two answers, however, my thoughts are that you may have a holly that is a spreader rather than an upright grower. Give it a good whacking and see if the new growth grows upright or spreads again. The lack of sun should not have made your holly spread. If it is indeed an upright holly, then it would have grown upright, but just extremely slow. The only way you are trully going to know is to cut it way back and see what happens. It certainly won't hurt anything.

Hope this helps! Good Luck!