Beginner Gardening: Need help with unhealthy salix, 2 by swampdiamonds

swampdiamonds wrote:
I'm not sure if the species is correct, but someone suggested that this is a salix purpurea. This water feature and salix were already established when we bought our house a few years ago. I'm in northwestern/central Iowa, and the last two summers we had severe droughts. (The salix gets no water from the "pond," because it is above ground. It probably *was* getting water from the pond until last spring when we replaced the leaky liner.) Last summer I did water it a few times, but was trying to conserve water so I'm sure it suffered considerably.

This spring we thought it was almost entirely dead. As you can see in the pics, it has some new growth close to the ground and a few living branches. What would you do with it? Should I cut it down considerably next spring? Can I cut dead branches off now? I'd like to save it. (My husband hates it because the little leaves clog the pond pump and would prefer to cut it down entirely, but it provides a little shade for the poor algae-ridden pond. Plus, I'm very fond of it because of the multitude of birds that live in it!)