Rescue trees

I have several 'rescue' J.M. trees which are misshapen, dead in the center, poorly pruned, roots exposed to weather, etc. They were all free and I have planted them out and am trying to baby them back to health. A couple of them are showing very tiny colorful leaves along with much larger plain green leaves. I snipped off all the plain leaves as I would any other variegated plant that shows signs of reverting. I've also just left all the dead wood and done very little pruning for at least one season, as I find sometimes there is a bit of life in the branch and it will eventually send out new growth. I also don't want to traumatize the trees any further. Most of them are tagged so I can do some online research to figure out what they are supposed to look like; others are NOIDs and I'll just wait and see what shape/form they have. Any other suggestions to give these poor guys a boost?

you did not mention how large the trees or the root systems are - if they are larger I would trim off all the dead wood in a couple weeks if they do not come back - I have had a couple here that died back and I moved them out of public sight - they have bounced back with a lot of growth that need constant cleaning up until a branch structure can be built up. depending how much growth even a small one had I would get rid of the dead wood it the other growth is good.

They are all various sizes and caliber (caliper?). One that is reverting to plain leaf is only about a foot tall and came with only a snippet of a bare root. Another is about 6' tall but fairly thin in the trunk, as I recall it was in a pot so likely had a pretty good root system going. A really oddball one is full and round at the base with a nice hefty trunk, still in ball & burlap - it had a wild arm sticking up about 3' with no buddies - my son took the snips to that one and made is much more symmetrical. It appears to me that the cultivars that are most variegated are the ones that are more likely to get plain green leaves.

I guess my question is how does one actually tell when the wood is dead -- I'm seeing a lot of pretty gray branches send out little shoots of green, which is why I've hesitated to cut too soon. And is snipping off the rogues the correct thing to do?

Most have been planted somewhat out of sight, mostly at the edges of my existing woodlots. I'm hoping they will eventually be little surprise spots of color within my natives, especially in the spring and fall when their color is so exceptional. It's been a fun project, some have bounced back really well, others are still struggling.

Hoping someone can give me a quick rundown of how JMs are developed. Are they mostly grafted? Or cross-pollinated somehow? Two of my rescue trees are definitely reverting to a plain green. One is 'Butterfly' which has a very few misshapen leaves consistent with the photos in the database. But, by far the majority of the healthy leaves are just a medium sized plain green. I'll hope it takes on some fall color. The other is also a variegated small leafed cultivar (NOID) with some of the true leaves at the base of the limbs looking very sad, and all new growth is wild (long sprouts) with plain green leaves. These are both planted in a buffer zone between us and the neighbors of mostly fir & cedar trees with a ferny understory. The JMs are at the north edge of the woodlot, so are in full shade during the winter with partial sun in the summer. Thanks for any insight - I will likely just try to keep them healthy and let their coloring/form go whatever way it goes.

they are grafted - butterfly has a tendency to revert - trim off the reverted branches.

Pretty much ALL the branches have reverted. I don't want to over-stress this already stressed tree, so I'll just let it become a no-name and enjoy it as a mutt. But thanks, I was unclear how all the seemingly unending named varieties come about. Assuming the root stock is hardier than the grafted part, it may make for a stronger tree.