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Can't Keep Up With Snow Fountain Cherry!

16 years ago

I have a weeping snow fountain cherry that I inherited when we moved into our house about a year ago. Last summer, I cut the tips of the branches once or twice during the summer because the branches were just laying on the ground and I didn't want to hack them up with the mower. (I know, apparently after reading some pruning tips on this forum, that wasn't the best thing to do.) Now this spring, it seems to be growing even faster, and the branches are already laying all over the ground. I guess I should have pruned right after flowering (again, read about pruning in this forum too late!) - but now that I am where I am, where do I go? The blooms all died off about a month ago - am I still close enough to that time to do some heavy pruning? And if I run into this problem in mid-summer where I have branches so long they are just laying all over the ground, what do I do if I am not supposed to do any cutting in the summer time?

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Comments (4)

Embothrium
16 years ago
Clip out of the way whenever in the way. Don't need to have it flopping around on the grass like a fish out of water. Just don't want to whack it into a cocktail umbrella or other truncated shape, as is far too often done - that takes away the weeping shape, defeating the purpose of choosing a weeping variety in the first place.

Ideally it would be at the top of a wall or on a bank above a pool or pond, where it could produce a 'fountain of snow' that draped over the wall or spilled down the bank. Maybe yours could have a bed cut out around it which it could give it a place to drape* without being run into with a mower. Small trees are happier without grass coming right up to them anyway.

*Allowed to spread over the ground for some years it should get past the flopping appearance at some point
nnsgarden
Original Author
16 years ago
I love the weeping shape, so I definitely want to avoid the mushroom look at all costs!

It's in a difficult place to cut a bed around (totally flat yard and it's near the corner of the house, so we'd have some drainage issues with cutting a bed there). We do have one in the front that is far off from the house I could do that with though. That one doesn't grow nearly as fast for some reason though (it gets a lot more sun, which I assume has something to do with it), so I don't have the same problem with the branches laying all over the ground with that one...(although I wish I did actually, as I want it to grow nice and big!)

All in all, I'm glad to know that I can safely clip it when it needs to be clipped back. Just seems the thing keeps growing wider and longer branches, but the trunk stays short!

Thanks for your advice - I do appreciate it!
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We are south of Deptford; probably 5 minutes away from rt 42 & the AC expressway. Also in the same boat with a hubby that can't shovel; although he did try early yesterday; moved his pickup, pushed snow around and went back inside. My son & I did the driveway the night before; son did what he could before DirecTV had him work. I went out a few times during the day; son came home helped me shovel some more.. seemed like that was all we did yesterday. At one point we had the street cleaned really good; I'd dug out the sewer & hydrant; made a path for the water to drain; well last night about 9:30 the plow came & left a 3ft high wall in front of my driveway & plowed the sewer & hydrant back in. I almost ran after him I was so pissed. Son went out; told him to just dig out one car width so we could get out if need be; he shoveled the whole thing. Thankfully today they did not route him so he was here to help shovel everything again. We got the sewer & hydrant dug out again. I was shoveling around the house; trying to get snow away from where the basement is leaking; stuck my shovel in the snow and what did I see? A huge bunny sitting in there. He'd made himself a house in the 3ft high snow next to my steps. I'd heard we were getting more snow Saturday but I guess it's been changed to Monday. Lovely. The ground is so soaked we are going to have water problems :(
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Embothrium
16 years ago
Another thing you can do with a weeping tree is install horizontal supports and train the branches along them, sometimes for quite a distance, to eventually produce a spectacular specimen - much more impressive than one kept as a limp umbrella. Installing a pole, selecting a leader and training a weeping tree up it, into a taller shape is also enhancing.
garyhrubochak51_yahoo_com
13 years ago
We have one of these trees in our front yard. We do keep it trimmed up pretty high. Last spring (2010) it was full of flowers. This year and two years ago it only had about half as many flowers. This tree is 12 years old. Does this matter? Is there a certain time of the year that this tree should be trimmed? And is there a certain amount that should not be taken off? The top of the tree has never been trimmed. Will this affect the rest of the tree on the amount of flowers that come out each spring? Will a rainy spring affect the tree? Thank you. Gary

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