I know I'm on a hobbyhorse, but I spent decades studying shoot growth, mainly in pines, and have some strong convictions on how best to approach and describe it. First, you need a model of normal development. Then when something unusual happens, you can intuit what is causing it. Example -- in northern pines of the simplest structure (ponderosa, strobus, Austrian, Scots, etc.) the apical meristem inside the leading bud tip forms a winter bud in the late summer. This goes dormant. Next spring, it comes out of dormancy after receiving enough cold for its chilling needs, and then enough heat to stimulate cell division. Gotta have both. Then the bud elongates into a shoot, exposing the fascicles that overwintered in the bud as miniatures. During elongation, a new bud is forming to repeat this cycle. Length of the new shoot is determined by the number of fascicles formed in the bud the previous year. These fascicles have a very strong tendency to space out on the new shoot evenly at a distance apart that varies by species.Drought in the spring prevents the full distance from being achieved (and needles reaching their full length). That's why transplants with injured roots have "brush" shoots with short needles jammed together. That damaged tree will probably put few new fascicles into its next bud, so next year's shoot will have normal fascicle spacing but fewer of them, and will also be shorter than it should. But the next bud should have normal number of fascicles, and full spacing between them, and therefore a nice long shoot should develop from it. This "mind-model" does have nuances and ins-and-outs; but it's a good starting point for understanding simple pines. More complex pines like contorta, southern pines, jack and Monterey take more work to figure out. Spruces and firs are much like simple pines in structure. Trees without buds (Cypress family) are another story. As for nutrients -- the elongating shoot produces hormones that cause the older needles to export carbs to the growth areas. By mid-summer the new shoots are living off their own photosynthesis; and then they start to store the excess so next year they can help out the newer shoots now appearing. This goes easier with a blackboard! Don't mean to diss anyone, I just feel strongly that bad vocabulary creates muddy thinking.

Perhaps shrubs would be a better forum to use although they're sometimes called flowering maples. Just a thought...I know these plants don't last forever,I think my sister considers hers on borrowed time at that age(she's got a few) though I've never been there to witness the symptoms of their natural demise. I do hope though, someone can suggest otherwise:)

We have/had several coonties in our yard. Most have done horribly. One died, then came back after I cut it all the way down. It looked great, now is in bad shape. We yanked a few out from an old planting bed and planted grass. The second bed where they are planted among 2 crepe myrtles, they are looking sad....dropping many leaves. They are still mostly green from a distance. Over the last year and a half...I have noticed they usually have black sotty mold on them...which means something is eating them. I spray and treat them, only for it to come back when I stop spraying. Also they end up with some type of scale. There are brown hard shell type growths on them, looks like barnicles. Our plan is to do away with those too. Just too much trouble. I have enough palms with problems then to worry about these things. Its a shame, I too thought they were easy to grow. I am not sure of my variety as they were planted before we moved in. I will note that my plants were in the constant path of the sprinklers...which could add to their demise. Mine have not collasped. They just look unheathly when you get up close.

Joshua, I'd like to answer your question directly: yes, trees can die suddenly. They can also die very soon after being planted too deeply. I'd have to say that it is the number one reason for decline and death in trees, at least in my career. Some years ago, I was called out to the large property of a high end retail complex, not a mall. The tree and landscaping installations were extensive, even extraordinary. I was called by the CEO to inspect the site about two months after completion of the job. The majority of the large trees were in serious trouble....after two months! The plants had all been planted anywhere from 6 to 8 inches below grade into a soil that stayed too mucky, too wet....especially at that depth. Tree roots must have oxygen at that shallow root zone...or they can die. Most of us know that the essential absorbing roots of trees are shallow. Planting too deeply impedes the development of new roots. So, the decline process can begin immediately and end swiftly......or a tree can languish for years before finally croaking. Trees that have been installed that deeply have been planted improperly, plain and simple.