Hoping someone will have some experience with this one.

I have a Kalopanax pictus var maximowizcii (ex Kalopanax septumlobus)
which has suffered greatly in the drought. It has been established for
around 5 years and is maybe 3 m tall, but still has a fairly small (and
thorny) trunk diameter. It put on about 2 feet of growth early and
looked quite good, but has since shed leaves on most of the upper part
of the tree. We've had a little rain but it's still very dry -- I just
dug up a suffering Acer erianthum and the ground was like rock -- so I
have been watering it.

The question is am I likely to see regrowth of leaves on the now naked
part, it being still early, or will I now probably lose that part of the
tree?

Thanks,

-E