[Arid_gardener] texas ebony help!

[M Gotway]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum. I live in Phoenix, AZ.

I am concerned about a Texas Ebony in our front yard. The tree has  
western exposure. This tree is about 12 years old (we just bought the  
house 2 years ago). In the last 3 months or so we started noticing  
that the branches on the tree are slowly dying. About 2 months ago,  
we removed the dead branches. However, another large branch has now  
suddenly died. There is no irrigation to this tree...but we gave it  
water and that did not seem to help. There are several areas of new  
growth at the base of the tree. Any idea what is killing this tree?  
Thanks in advance!! Mary