Its odd that it wouldn't have leafed out in your area yet but just scratch a main stem (or even the main trunk).

If its green you're good...brown and its dead.

I would be very... suspicious at this point. The only thing yet to break bud in my yard are dead branches. EVERYTHING else is well on their way with some things already pushing out 1' of growth, including an 'Orangeola' pushing 8"+.

Scratch test pronto!

John

at the end of summer 2011

==>> was it a late season bargain???

give it a week or two.. and then get rid of it.. if it shows no sign of life.. or is so stunted as to not be worthwhile ...

now. ... i see this beautiful green lawn.. looking like 50 plus feet.. towards the street ..

and you have this tree within what looks like 2 feet of the house .. whats that all about ... there is a chance.. the retained and reflected heat of winter sun.. cooked it.. who knows ....

if and when you replace it.. plant it NO CLOSER than 6 feet from the house ... its all about planning for its future natural growth ...

good luck

ken

I would hestiate to pull the plug yet :-) Although the photo could be larger, there looks to be viable buds on the tree and no obvious signs of dead (read grey or black) wood. Sometimes more recently planted items just take a bit longer to respond and leaf out.

And I'd not be overly concerned about placement either. Tamukeyama is a weeping dissectum, easily trained to grow in a specific horizontal direction, so closeness to structure, wall, fence etc. is not particularly critical. These types of JM's are often used to anchor corners or small planters in my area.