is tree dead, or dormant

Hi. New gardener here. We moved 4 weeks ago, there’s various plants in the garden, and this tree. Just wondering if it is dead, or dormant? I think it’s a canary laurel.

Thank you

 

@tracy henning
If it's not showing foliage and growth by midsummer it's pretty certain it is an ex-tree.

 

There's quite a bit of damage to the bark that you've shown in one of the photos that will restrict the amount of water your tree can get above that damaged area.
It's also been very dry in most of the UK (assuming that's where you are), so there's less moisture in the ground also.
So whilst the scratch test shows your tree is still alive, probably it just can't get enough water to the branches so that they can leaf-out.
Have you tied the scratch test a bit higher up to see if the branches still have green?
You could try giving it a really good drench a couple of times a week and see what happens.

 

Hi. Thanks for your advice. I’ll try the scratch test as you suggested, and watering. Lets see what’s happens.

 

It might not be dead yet, but that big hole/split in the bark doesn't look healthy, and it's planted very close to the wall. I'm guessing it was one of those ball-on-a-stick topiary trees that are so popular these days, but I doubt whether it'll ever grow back like that. If it were mine I would ditch it and get something else.

You've already got good specimens of purple toadflax (Linaria purpurea) there, and that's a plant that prefers dry well-drained soil so maybe choose plants that also like those conditions.

I'm not convinced that it's Canary Laurel - that doesn't seem to be widely available in the UK. More likely to be Bay (widely available as "lollipop trees") or maybe portuguese laurel.