Question

Willow Tree   Hi,
I planted my weeping willow about nine years ago and it grew very quickly and has bloomed beautifully every year.  This spring it seems to be taking its time blooming and I am afraid it is dead or parts of it has died.  As you can see by the photo, it has only bloomed up the middle of the tree.  Last summer we had a heat wave - more than 100 days over 100 degrees - but would this bother it since it is a drought-tolerant tree?  We also had a mild winter.  I love this tree and it provides good shade to both driveways so I would hate if it died.  Please help, thanks!

Answer
I would think it is a reaction to the drought. Willows require more water than do most trees. This spring also has caused strange thing to happen to trees, the early warm weather caused leaf out early and some tree leafed out late. Here in Alabama we have maples that are only half leafed out but still have good buds.

I would check the limbs that are not leafed out and see if they are still alive. Start near the end of a branch and scrape a small bit of bark off and if the color under the bark is green the branch is still alive and should leaf out. IF the color under the bark is not green but brown and the twigs are not flexible the branch is dead. If the color is brown I would wait a month and see if some of the branch may leaf out and then cut the dead part off. OR you can just cut the dead off low.

To encourage the leaf put I would water the tree with 1 inch of water--place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch in  it stop. Do this every third day for a couple of weeks. This should jump start the leaf out.