Question
A splended Magnolia in my yard failed to bud this spring, then failed to put out any leaves at all. It sits in the yard in July looking like mid December. There is also some flaking of the bark at the base of the tree.  Is this tree dead or somehow just playing possum for a season? Any way to tell? Many thanks..

Answer
You can tell if the tree is alive by scraping a small bit of bark off the end of a branch and if the color under the bark is green then the branch is still alive. If the color in brown then this branch is dead. Check other branches and by doing this you can determine if the whole tree is dead. Also check near the ground level and see if the trunk is green under the bark. If so prune the tree back to the green area and water. Based on what you said I would expect the tree is dead.