Hello all, I have a purple leaf plum tree that does not seem to be doing well. I've lived at this house for three summers. The first summer the tree had thick purple foliage, however, late spring/early summer for the past two years, the leaves turn yellow, green and brown and curl into themselves. Additionally, branches are brittle and i've had to cut a surprisingly high number of dead branches off. I've read that these trees may only live for 20 yrs, so is this tree sick or is it dying of old age. I do not know how old the tree is. I've attached some pics here and would appreciate any feedback. I have two more of these that are very healthy in the back yard (~60 feet away), so i do have concerns if this tree is sick. Any advice would be apprreciated. Thanks Chris
Update: So I hired an arborist to come out and look at this tree and give some recommendations on the other trees around the yard. Unfortunately, after a 1.5 hr visit (of which he was on his cell phone for 45 minutes), he said that the tree was sick and should be removed. He didn't say why or how, so I a little skeptical, just simply that he could prepare a quote to come and take it out. I'm a little concerned with following this guy's advice. We have some newly planted citrus trees and wanted some recommendation for how and when to trim them to get the shape we were looking for. His only comment was "yeah, you usually want to wait till spring, but you can cut them now." Regarding shape he said, "well, you just get in there and start cutting." So did i just waste $150 on this guy? Should I hire a different arborist, you know, give it one more shot? Any second opinions on if the plum is worth saving?
If it produces purple leaves then tree shown is Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy'. Problems with this selection and other C. canadensis in plantings are frequent.
