Sick May Day Tree

Question

I have a May Day tree that was very healthy for the first six years. In its seventh year, there was a cold snap in the spring just when the tree was trying to leaf out; 65% of the branches leafed, flowered, berried, looked great; 35% did not leaf. This year, its eighth, the same thing happened again in the spring; however, now only 40% of the branches (all lower branches) have leaves and flowered, the remainder have nothing. The branches remain supple, can be fully bent without snapping. Is there no hope for this tree? I would love to save it, but not sure that it can be.

Answer 1

As long as the branches remain supple and green (you can scratch the surface bark to see if they are green), the branches are still alive and should recover. As long as the tree grows some leaves, it will survive.