Several homeowners shared concerns about dead and dying trees including pine, magnolia, and crape myrtle. At this writing, our area has a rain deficit of approximately thirteen inches, so drought stress is a contributor of the decline of trees in the landscape. The homeowner with the pine complained about bark beetles killing her tree. If a pine tree is stressed, it tends to become infested with insects because a pine tree, during a drought year, fails to flood the wound and drown the invader with resin.