Question
I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and I planted a Chitalpa in my back yard three years ago. It only has leaves at the bottom and all but two of the tall branches have nothing. Is this normal? What am I doing wrong? Should I just trim these bare branches?

Answer
Angela:
Hope your are referring to a Catalpa.  You can remove the bare branches if they are dead. Scratch the bark off on a few of the branches and look for green beneath- a sign of live tissues. If the tree has lost a lot of leaves, it may be sick. Take a look at the trunk of the tree for loose or damage bark.  This may indicate some level of decay within.

Steve