Question
I have a 4 year old globe willow that is so far only blooming on the bottom of the trunk, where is have pruned. not one of the branches have started blooming yet. i also have a smaller G W and it is fully bloomed. not sure if a freeze got the bigger one or not. I live in W texas. I wanted to see if it might be dead or dying. thanks

Answer
You can determine if the branches are dead or alive. Start near the end of a branch and scrape a small bit of bark off the twig-if the color under the bark is green then the branch is still alive at this point on the branch. if the color is not green (brown) than the branch is dead at this point on the branch--continue down the branch at intervals scraping until you find green. Of course you can wait until the tree has completely leafed out and the branches with no leaves can be said to be dead. prune the dead parts off.  

The weather may have effected the blooming in the upper crown of the tree. about all that you can do is just wait and see what effect the weather had on the foliage.