Sorry I am a computer network engineer I know nothing about plants except I love my little purple tree and I think its dying. only parts (less than half) has leaves the rest is just moss covered sticks please see photos. Lee Ross Rockwood, TN
It appears pretty healthy to me. The dead parts look like older growth on the lower part of the tree that was shaded out by the leafy upper canopy. Some trees are self-pruning, and crowded and shaded parts just naturally die and eventually drop off. That's what the dead parts look like to me; they should be pruned off to make the tree neater looking. The lichens growing on the dead branches are harmless, even if they are growing on live limbs.
