I bought a nice bay topiary this spring and figured I'd grow it out on my deck and bring it in over the winter, and have fresh bay leaves all yr long for yrs to come. Well, Mother Nature not being on my side, we had some storm damage, the deck is in disarray, and while I watched the plants and watered as they needed it, something has caused my bay to dry up quite a bit- MOST of the leaves are dry and crispy. I've been thinking about plucking off the dry leaves and maybe pruning it back. Any experts on bay out there ?? Will this encourage branching at all ? there are some smaller branches with "good" leaves I'd leave... I'm just real disappointed that this has happened and I'm hoping to save what I can with this plant.