Unfortunately the only remedy for suspected salt exposure damage is time, as the salt will gradually leach out of the root zone and into deeper soil over time; if our current drought continues, this may take a while unless the garden is being irrigated periodically. (Since Inkberry holly prefers moist soil, drought stress if they are not being checked for water could be a contributing factor to their current state.) Salt-burned foliage may die and need to be pruned off if that branch does not produce replacement growth in the coming weeks, but salt-stressed roots will need that water leaching to dilute any residues.

Cold damage (winterburn) that injures or kills leaves or branch tips doesn't always manifest until sometime in spring, long after the damage took place, and sometimes it doesn't appear all at once. Leaves that were desiccated and browned will fall off on their own, but in cases where the branch itself died back, that wood can be pruned off once you can tell where the dead zone meets live wood. It's normal for hollies to not produce much new growth until late in spring (perhaps early May), so the plants may need more time to show how extensive any winter dieback has been.

The bare bottom branches on the shrubs is normal for this species as they age, but also exacerbated by something that's causing a more extreme leafless zone in all but the highest branch tips. This might be cumulative drought stress (if not irrigated during dry spells) and/or shade from any nearby trees. It looks like Magnolias are in the area, and if so, their shallow roots compete with nearby plants for moisture, and the low canopy (compared with a taller-growing, higher-branched shade tree) deprives nearby plants of enough light if they are a sun-loving species. Inkberry does tolerate part shade, but the lower light can increase the leggyness (bare zone) under the shrub's youngest foliage. In full sun exposures (6+ hours of direct summer sun) they tend to keep more of their lower foliage, although some bareness is still typical.

The only way to prompt meaningful new growth to fill-in the lower branches is to significantly cut back stems to let in more light, often by trimming all growth back ("renewal" or "rejuvenation" pruning) to within a foot or so of the ground. If the plants have healthy roots with enough energy stores, the shrubs will regrow, but the pace of that new growth may be such that an aesthetic recovery could take a few years. If it's more practical to replace some of the shrubs due to their current appearance, a species more adapted to part shade (or mostly shade, depending on how much summer sun they get) may be more suitable. If deer visit the area, the candidate list will shrink, but there are some options that they don't prefer to eat. If you prefer using native plants, though, the candidate list will be even smaller due to the need to overlap all of those considerations.

One possibility is a dwarf, shrubby form of American Holly (Ilex opaca 'Maryland Dwarf' or variety 'Clarendon Spreader') if you don't need the row of evergreens to mature very tall. The genus Illicium contains a couple North American natives (none grow wild in Maryland, though) and hybrids that are good for shade or part shade and which deer don't find appealing; their leaves look a bit like Rhododendron, and they prefer moist soil. Occasionally minor damage may occur in a harsh winter. Another almost-native option would be Leucothoe; either L. axillaris or L. fontanesiana if you don't need great height, or their cousin Agarista populifolia if you want something taller plus more broad. Mature specimens of the latter species have done well in the wooded native plant landscape at the U.S. National Arboretum for years now. None of the above candidates are suitable for routine pruning, though, so if a more formal look is desired, that would have to be achieved with another species, and possibly a non-native one like Cephalotaxus harringtonia, Osmanthus heterophyllus, or another species or hybrid of holly (Ilex).

One final possibility as a contributing factor to the Inkberry's current state is deer browsing; we can't rule it out from the photos, and while it's not a favored plant, they will eat just about anything when they are hungry, and this winter we've seen notable deer damage in our region on species usually left alone.

If you wanted to try rehabbing the Inkberry and keeping them, you could consider underplanting them with shade-tolerant perennials to help hide some of the bare zone. Options may include various native ferns (some of which have decent drought tolerance), sedges (Carex species), Jacob's-Ladder (Polemonium reptans), and White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata).

Miri