Question
Hi Jim,
I have a few Caribbean Copper Plants in Los Angeles, and we had a particularly cold (freezing) winter this year.  They are deciduous, but the leaves don't seem to be coming back at all now, as they always have.  Could they have died in the freeze? In past years, I've trimmed it, left the branches, and waited for them to sprout leaves again, and they've always thrived in the spring no matter what. Is it totally dead? (How can I tell?) Should I cut it to the ground . . . or abandon it?
Thanks for your time!
Stan  

Answer
You can determine if the tree is dead by starting at the end of a branch and scraping a small bit of bark off the twig and if the color under the bark is green the the branch is still alive at this point on the branch. If it is green then it should put out new leaves. If the color under the bark is brown then the branch is dead at this point and you should keep going down the branch until you see green. The dead branches can be pruned off.