I live in Boise, Idaho. I have a tree in my front yard which was here when I moved in a little less than 1 year ago. It has been in the ground for about 3 years, it's quite young. I don't know what kind of tree it is. It usually has red leaves, but in the spring it has green leaves and then gets clusters of white blossoms. This spring, only 1 little branch got new leaves. The rest of the branches look pretty dead. I can't see any bark damage, but there was one root above ground for most of the winter. I dug a flower bed around it last summer, afraid I may have damaged the roots at that time, because it's seemed pretty inactive ever since. Is it worth saving? Should I cut back the dead branches? Can I do anything for it? I'm at a total loss, so any help is really appreciated! Thanks so much, Becci
Sounds like you have a Schubert chokecherry or one of the other purpleleaf cultivars of chokecherry (Prunus virginiana). Your account suggests you damaged it last year by digging too close to it--circumstantial evidence certainly points to this, anyway. At this point it is apparently dead or nearly so, possibly it could still struggle back eventually, over a period of years but in the meantime it will look bad. If it actually had some other problem at the same time as the presumed mechanical injury (cutting of roots), how well it might be able to grow back from this depends on what, exactly that other problem might have been.
If this tree is going to look so poor for some time, would it be worth digging it up and planting something lovely in order to better enjoy your new home? Do cuttings of the likely identification of this tree (Prunus _____) root easily?
I would be willing to wait for the tree to come back. what should I do with it in the mean time? Should I cut away some branches? What about the main stalk, do I mess with that?
Don't cut anything. Don't do anything. If it's going to come back, it'll do it alone and all you should do is wait.
