Hi all, hope this is the right section for this topic! I have been looking to buy a cherry blossom tree and back in April I brought a grafted shirotae from a local garden store. Unfortunately after planting into the soil for 4 weeks the tree started dying with all the leaves becoming yellow(even the new leaves) and dropping off. The tree was planted on a slope at a sunny spot to allow some water drainage and the Vancouver weather hasn't even been that rainy yet. Unfortunately we ended up digging the tree up to have it returned to the store, and the store manager doesn't even seem surprised with its premature death saying that the rootstock might not be healthy, appears that this is a common problem with grafted cherry trees? Since most of the local stores (ie Gardenworks, Arts etc) only sell grafted cherry blossom trees (I think, and none of them are cheap), any suggestions on what I should look out for when I look for a new tree? Any recommended suppliers/nurseries? Are grafted cherry trees destined for a premature death anyways? We have always seen beautiful established cherry blossom trees by our neighbors, should I assume those trees were also grafted at one point? thanks!
The Shop at UBC Botanical Garden sold a number of small, own-root cherries this spring. Each was about 1 m tall. The plants were produced in the Botanical Garden Nursery from stock accumulated over the last decade or so. There were both common and uncommon cultivars available and they were not particularly expensive. There should be more available (of the same size) each spring going forward.
