Question
We have a 3 yr. old magnolia in Atlanta, GA.  Last year it did really well, grew a lot and flowered 3 times!  However this spring we got snow for a few days and now the whole thing looks dead!  All the leaves except for a few on the bottom are totally brown and crispy.  Should we pull all the dead leaves off or cut the tree down in hopes that it will come back?  Any advice would be appreciated!

Answer
I would just wait and see if the tree will put on new leaf buds. The cold caused the foliage to die back but hardwood trees have the capability to form new leaf buds when this happens. I would water the tree and let the old leaves fall on their own. You may have some top kill and if so this part can be pruned off later after you are sure it is dead. You can scrape a little bark off an upper outer branch and if the color under the bark is green the branch is still alive and should bud out. If the color under the bark is brown the branch is dead at that point on the branch--continue down the branch scraping at intervals until you find green or reach the trunk. IF the color is brown that branch is dead and can be pruned off. IF you are bot sure just wait and see if it buds out in a month or so.
Water with 1 inch of water per week-place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop. Do this if it does not rain and continue watering fro a couple of months once a week.