My Tiger Eye Sumac is not sprouting any buds and it is May 2. Also the branches are very brittle. When I snip off a piece of the branch it is brown inside. Someone suggests giving the plant a heavy pruning to see if it comes back but I cannot tell it is really dead.

Check around the base and gently scratch the bark and see if there's any green.

Thanks for getting back to me. I scratched off a piece at the bottom of both stems (actually I sawed off a small piece) and and it is all brown

Oh dang. It just might be dead. Can you lift it gently and look at the roots? I'm concerned there is no new growth.

I will take a look after the weekend and let you know

It's sad because it's a beautiful plant. You should be able to replace it easily enough.