Hi Everyone, First thank you for your comments and helpfulness. I have numerous pictures but at the present moment, I am uncertain as to how to post them...smiles. I have clipped a few edges to see if there were any green left to them and from the tips I would say no. As mentioned, right now, these two large branches do not have any flowers on them and look dead in appearance. If fact, I just spoke to a gentleman who sold me the tree a few years back and he was saying that the winters here in Illinois have been very bad on the Redbuds in fact to the point of him no longer carrying them due to all the one year guarantees he had lost. Smiles. This tree only has about 6 main branches and if I cut out the two, I have a feeling, it may then be best to cut the whole tree out given that it is not that big and all the diseases this tree is suseptible to. Right now, I am thinking of possibly a Kousa Dogwood given that I do not want something too large given that it will be situated next to a sidewalk. I would like something with decorative flowering and the possibly a maroon leaf during the year. Again, I am in Illinois. Thanks, MEtten

Your tree needs serious and immediate help but, it may not be to late. When you pruned heavily the inner trunk was exposed to a lot of sun and now has sunburn (that's why it's pealing off). If it's pealing all the way around the tree (360 degrees of circumference) nothing can be done above that point. You need to get some flat white latex household paint and paint all the trunk and limb surfaces. This will reflect sun and heat and also keep harmful rays from burning the bark. Kind of like the way lifeguards put zinc oxide on their nose. (but please use paint ;) If by chance you have one of those picnic shade covers and it can fit over the tree, use that for the rest of the summer, say through September, to help prevent more sunburn. Also, do not prune any more for a while. let what grows, grow. The tree will need all the leaf it can get to recover. I think you did the right thing by removing fruit for this year. let the tree work of leaves, not fruit for this year. Lastly, and please go easy so as not to burn the little bit of leaf you have, use a fertilizer with a high nitrogen content to help stimulate lots of green growth. Hopefully in the next few weeks, you will see new growth and in a couple of years have a full tree again. Arthur the Date Palm Guy

There is a more or less common fungus disease caused by the the fungi "Phytophthora". Phytophthora cause the most serious soilborn diseases of citrus. The common name for the disease is Foot Root. You can evaluate the symptoms listed below and see if they match what is going on with your tree. The infection occurs near the ground level. At first the cambium and inner bark are damaged, but the outer bark remains firm with small cracks through which abundant gum exudes. Lesions spread around the circumference of the trunk, slowly girdling the tree, and the bark is eaten away. Severly affected trees have pale, green leaves with yellow veins. Large trees also may be killed, but typically the trunks are only partially girdled and the tree canopy eshibits leaf defoliation, twig dieback, and the tree attempts to make a weak growth flush.(ref. Comp. Of Citrus Diseases). Here is a web site with more information and two pictures for you evaluation. http://cals.arizona.edu/PLP/plpext/diseases/fruits/citrus/citrusgum.html - Millet

djwfrk: Not at all. I actually enjoy working with ESL kids at school, many of them from Hispanic countries. I have told the "landscape workers" in Spanish (because they speak no English) not to break my garden fences, to no avail. They can't even read Spanish. I am virtually in tears about the latest destruction to the Adirondack fencing around my hosta garden. Several sections are lying on the ground all torn to pieces, like garbage, and the protective foam tubing I placed on top is ripped to shreds by these ignoramuses. It looks like a city dump, thanks to them, at $5-6/section! They have also knocked down quite a few of my plant markers. I am forever having to retrieve the plant markers from the ground and put them back on their supports. I have spent backbreaking labor and funds for patching compound repairing the really nice faux stone garden edging that they busted ugly holes in. These guys are knowledgeable landscape workers like I'm six feet tall (I am, in fact, 5'2"). They do not seem to have much knowledge about gardening at all, just how to flail about with weed-whackers and blowers. Their mowing is laughable. Also, I see a different crew each time. There are places in this area where it is well known that illegals congregate to pick up day labor jobs. Many contractors, like landscape companies, go over in the morning to these places to pick up workers for the day. The illegals are happy to work for minimum pay because they are limited in what jobs they can obtain. So the quality of work is about on a par with absolute amateurs, because in effect, that's exactly what they are. And the co-op couldn't care less. They are penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to landscaping. They could care less if my fencing gets ripped up, plants get trampled, etc. Here is an article from a local Queens news source: Day laborers busted on 69th Street The police arrested 10 immigrants on Tuesday on charges that they blocked a sidewalk at a popular gathering place for day laborers in Jackson Heights, Queens, the chief spokesman of the Police Department said. The arrests came in response to repeated calls from neighborhood residents complaining about the laborers "most of them undocumented" who congregate every day at the intersection of Broadway, 37th Avenue and 69th Street, said the spokesman, Paul J. Browne. “Police responded to community complaints about them blocking the sidewalk and congregating,” Mr. Browne said, adding that there were 50 to 60 workers at the location on Tuesday morning before the arrests. “We responded and asked them to disperse,” Mr. Brown said. “All but 10 of them did.” _______________________ There is little doubt, based on what I've seen and my conversations with them, that these "landscape workers" are undocumented aliens. So, I have spent endless hours researching, planning, buying materials, digging, hauling heavy bags of soil and mulch, planting, watering, weeding, etc. so that these "landscape workers" can come and lay waste to all my efforts. I'm sure you would love them, too, if you could but see the latest damage. Life in the big city.