Had some leylands planted last year which went into shock pretty much
right away. We lost alot of the growth at the lower part of the tree.
We also lost some more growth this year due to what I hope is just a
lack of water issue. My question is...what happens to all that growth
that was lost at the bottom of the tree? We cut off all the dead
branches and now it's pretty bare at the bottom....do new branches or
leaves grow back? Or is this the way the trees are going to stay now?

Also...if in fact I did have a lack of water issue (still not
sure)....what signs can I look for that it's working or not? And how
long until I notice some kind of improvement? (the green was slowly
turning brown). Do those 1/2 brown leaves now become green again or
do they continue to just die off?

Sorry for all the questions...obviously very new to this.