I have a Japanese Pagoda Tree that apparently was damaged by a late freeze. It had started to leaf out in March then all of the leaflets turned brown after a freeze. We have been watering it, and the wood was green, though now there are less green twigs and branches and more brown. The trunk and major branches still appear to be green. I don't see any signs of re-leafing. Should I prune this tree back to try to force growth ? Or is it hopeless and it needs to be replaced ? Thanks.

Hi Judith, New Dawn's not really hardy for us in zone 2-3. My mom has one and it always survives at the roots but since it blooms on old wood and dies back every year, she never gets a bloom out of it. She also planted it in too much shade. Anyway, if your canes turn out to be dead, but it grows back from the roots you might skip a year of blooms but should canes survive in subsequent years it would be back on track. I know what you mean about having to cut it all down, they're prickly!! Hope it's ok anyway.

If not remontant types, blooming is probably done for this season. You can cut off the dead flowerheads (deadheading) by cutting back to the next leaf node. FWIW, in areas with long growing seasons, sometimes even non-remontant (reblooming) hydrangeas will produce new flowers on current growth. No guarantees but it can happen. I'd not expect it on greenhouse-forced plants, however.

Agree it does look telephone poled. If we're talking Acer ginnala 'Flame' I don't think even a harsh zone 4 winter would kill the top like that unless there was an underling issue: girding roots, planted too deep, verticillium wilt, trunk damage. However, there are also some Acer rubrum selections with Flame in the name.