I've found the heaving snow causes plenty of damage, I've had many small fruit trees damaged. Even this year the snow was deeper than I had expected and lost small branches just over 3' from the ground. Yes coming home from work in the dark to shovel around the 100+ bushes by flashlight to be serious stuff and hoped there was a trick. Looking forward for taller growth and may end up staking each and tying up for winter in coming years. Consider electric fencing for your moose... ground + positive real close together.

in my estimate.. wood does not heal ... and the healing of the bark is not going to hold up a limb of that size ... especially with fruit ... w/o a picture.. its really hard to speculate.. as to whether it is salvageable ... see link i suspect .... that you want a pretty tree .... but every visit to an orchard.. only shows me.. that production trees are not really pretty ... and i would suggest that the best solution is to remove the broken parts.. and let the tree continue on its way ... but that is all complicated if it is the primary focus of your suburban yard .... so talk to us about what is 'really important' .. a pretty tree.. or a production tree ... it is my base position on trees .. that all broken branches are properly pruned off... no matter what the tree ends up looking like .... production or not ... one option.. might be to plant a replacement ... and cope with the ugly one.. for a year or two.. while the other gets going.. and then when it gets too ugly.. you already have a replacement good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Most conifers in the east are not climax forest species. For introduced species like Norway spruce, they will almost always yield to more shade tolerant tree species (usually deciduous tree species in the east). Though they can be 'common', they are not really 'invasive'. Major exceptions for conifers... 1. Regions vulnerable to fire - Shortleaf and/or Pitch Pine in drought prone areas. Virginia and/or Loblolly in wetter environments. Cold & ice storms are probably Loblolly's greatest handicap when competing against other pine species in the north. They will all get crowded out in the absence of fire. 2. High altitude environments where winter cold, summer cool, lower soil fertility, and higher precipitation give Fir, Spruce, and White Pine a competitive edge over many deciduous species. 3. Mesic environments without ANY fire - Hemlock. I expect the areas where Norway spruce is most likely to be 'invasive' would be where Red spruce currently dominates....both are fairly similar in climate/soil requirements and fire frequency tolerance where both would have a competitive edge over other species.

I just wrote a nice detailed and lenghty (of course!) post and it was lost. Trying again. YG is 100% correct. You have to have all shrubs on hands AND find out where the sprinkler line is before planting you anchor tree. I had so many disappointments when perfect thoroughly thought plan was ruined by some unexpected ledge or huge rock laying just under 2-3" of top soil. Yes, I was talking about this particular bed. As soon as you finish planting your deck's bed (next week, next month or next year) you'll realize that this(ES) bed look skimpy and need to be increased to watch the bed on another side of the stairs(deck's bed). That will involve major reshuffling and not necessary will be to the benefits of the plants' well being. The younger the shrubs the easier this job could be done. Again, as I said before, I'd rather see white blooming SM-tree surrounded/offsetted by the blue ESs than a white-white combo of Annabelle+SM. Matter of taste of course, since culturaly ES and Annabelle are fairly identical. Also, don't forget that by the time SM will be in full bloom your Annabelle will be or soon will be in a green stage and that may create somewhat clashing effect, I think. So, I'm suggesting to use 2-3 ES on a sides/around SM and to separate your pair of Annabelles and move the right one to the far right end of the railing where the entrance is. In this order: A-ES-SM-ES-A. There is a possibility that A will eventualy outgrow ES (or maybe not), but at least give a thought to this idea. Maybe just remove one of the A (or both) and plant it(them) in a bed currently occupied by ESs. Re: BBillow. '... isn't Blue Billow supposed to require much shade and not a drop of noon and afternoon sun at all? ' Absolutely unsubstantiated notion. If ES doing good there, BB will do good as well. One thing is for sure, I wouldn't be looking for place for BB in a deck's bed for one and simple reason, you don't want to waste 40-50 days in a height of the summer for its 'ugly duckling' period. Good luck, G