Thank you very much for all of the helpful replies. I guess I will wait till fall and see how things go, and be prepared to replace them if they don't survive another summer. First of all, here are a couple of photos of the trunk of the one in the yard (the worst one). You can see where I recently dug out the excess soil piled around the tree and attempted to get it at the level it probably should have been at when they planted the trees. Dwrecktor, it sounds like your experience was very close to mine. Do the pictures above look like your trees did? How long was it between the time your trees were planted and when you removed the excess soil? Mine will have been in the ground for 3 years in September. I sure wish I had known to do that right away. Arktrees, great suggestion on the perc test - I will do that. I do know that the soil is heavy red clay and there isn't much topsoil since they took that away when they built the homes. As a rule, our soil tends to be slightly alkaline from what I've heard. It gets very hot and dry here in the summers. Any suggestions as to what might be a good replacement tree? Since my house faces south, a shade tree is a priority. Other considerations are something that will be less likely to blow over or lose big limbs in our storms, won't overwhelm my small lot, and if it produces something edible (like pecans or fruit) that would always be a plus. Drought and heat tolerance would be pretty high on the list and it would be in full sun pretty much all day on that side of the house. Of course I don't want anything that will mess with the driveway/sidewalk/foundation or plumbing, though maybe that last one isn't a big deal with new construction. I welcome any and all suggestions. My personal favorites are maples and birches and blue spruce, but that's probably the Canadian in me :) I'm guessing none of those would do well down here? I'm guessing the burr oak comment was a joke? What is a chinquapin? Are there any small pecan cultivars that would make a good yard tree, or are they all huge? Also, I was reading about Caddo maples that are native to SW Oklahoma - has anyone had any experience with them? Thanks again everyone for all the helpful replies and for not making me feel more like a total idiot than I already do lol

nurseryman33, thanks for reviewing and responding to my post. I have given the tree a closer inspection. The dying leaves have now spread to about four branches. The branches are not physically damaged. The buds look good, where the leaves still look good but out toward the end of each branch, where the leaves are dying, the buds are dying too. I noticed that on both dying leaves and healthy ones, there are very tiny little bugs/mites. They are black and hard to even see (smaller than bits of pepper). I now wonder if I have some type of insect infestation. I will do more internet research. Your response is appreciated, thanks. This post was edited by Redwing2 on Sun, Sep 1, 13 at 10:21

Ok, I'm going to list the issues that I see, because I think it will just be easier that way. planted too deep the mulch is mounded, it should be a FLAT ring, not touching the trunk the mulch ring should be larger than the canopy of the tree it needs crown raising that color looks like herbicide spray drift Put that all together, and what do you get? A tree that will be dead in a matter of years. My advice to you would be to go out, excavate the root flare, widen the mulch ring, and for heaven's sake RAISE THE CROWN, it's so low to the ground it looks almost comical (can you stand under it!?). Do that, then report back here with pictures.

Froze Budd, I planted a pagoda dogwood this year and the mature tree looks quite amazing. Very different than everything else with it’s branches parallel to the ground and it doesn’t get big. If somehow you could convince a nursery to try to find a pink flair cherry, it’s the only Japanese cherry hardy to zone 3b. I would love it but haven’t found anyone that could bring it in for me yet. Red rocket maple is nice and I have that in my yard. It’s a skinny red maple that doesn’t get huge.