Wish I knew what to tell you. It sounds as though it's still alive. I think if it were me, I would call my county extension agent and talk to them, maybe even have them come out and take a look.

I agree with hostaholic...if the darn thing is going to die, then at least you can (if you have one) return it in time to be replaced by warranty. Or perhaps they may tell you to hang in there it will be fine. I don't know tons about trees, but I do think that the buds should have survived the frosts, it's not like it is a marginal variety of tree. Good luck, wish I knew more...Helen.

Well, the two things that are possibilities are

1) There was a thick infestation of Mile-a-minute growing around the base of the tree... and no matter how much I pull and pull and pull.. it just comes back. So I put some more mulch on it yesterday in a wider (a good 5' across now) and put it to about 3" deep. There is a chemical in mile-a-minute that prevents other plants from growing around it. I really doubt this is it, though.

2) The other bur oak saplings I planted have just been leafing out in the past 2 weeks. I don't know if they were forming roots under the soil or what was going on.. but the bigger tree could be experiencing hte same transplant shock and thus the later emergence.

I'll have to call the SWCD and see what they have to say.