where are you.. big city name..

imo.. those leaves look normal for early spring bud out ... and it seems extremely early to jump to bill suggestion ...

i see improper prior pruning stubs ...

you are going to have to provide pix or the whole tree ... after it totally buds out ... and creates leaves .. for us to determine if there are large dead pieces ... and what to do about that ...

depending on where you are.. can you rule out frost or freeze since the buds started expanding????

ken

are you sure its a maple?

The pictures show maple flowers.

Thanks! I believe it is a maple, however I could be wrong as the house is new to me.

We are in London Ontario, and we have had one small frost since it started to bud. I can get more photos of the entire tree shortly.

' Last year in mid summer some of the branches had their leaves turn brown and shrivel up. This year, those branches are not re-budding '

Ken, there's more to it than just a frost nip.

You're not wrong, Jason. Those are maple flowers. Compare with Crimson King Norway Maple flowers.

Just the bottom 1/4 of the tree has been effected, the top of the tree still seems fine.

Below is photo of the tree next to it which has been the effected the most... last year it went almost entirely brown and this year has almost no buds. We trimmed the worst branches to promote new growth to see if it would help.

According to my reference I linked to, Verticillium wilt works it way from the lower crown, upward and the tree can live many years before succumbing.

Here's another thread where someone that knows vastly more than I do about the subject speaks.

"and the tree can live many years before succumbing."

Operative word is 'can' here :-) VW can also work extremely rapidly and kill the tree in a matter of just a few days.....almost overnight! Larger, well established trees seem to deal with the pathogen a bit better and can live longer.

And just to be clear, I am not confirming VW, although that IS a possibility. That really requires a plant pathology lab to confirm. And there can be other reasons for a partial dieback in midseason.

Ken, there's more to it than just a frost nip.

\===>> agreed .. i meant to suggest the there may be more than one thing going on here ...

you own the property outside the fence.. out near the retaining pond???