cherry blossom is incredibly short lived in my z5 ... a couple days at best ... it was near done blooming when you bought it.. and the transplant finished it off for this season ... in my z5 the flower buds are incredibly sensitive to frost/freeze after winter.. and prior to bloom ... your annual show will vary based on such ... all you should be worried about .... is getting it to live thru summer.. and you should be all set .... where is two face.. TO THE BATCAVE.. lol .. ken

The weeping cherry is very important to the significant other, she's already gone and bought the tree. When pulling out the dogwood, the soil seemed clay like there and drainage wasn't very good (I soaked the ground to pull out the dogwood and the ensuing hole filled with water and didn't appear to want to drain at all). Should I dig wider and deeper and fill with gravel/sand? I was worried the tree might be too close to the house and was trying to convince her of this, but she is pretty set on the spot. Is it worth the argument or do you think I can make it work? I don't want to put excess maintanance work on myself if it is going to need extra pruning being so close the house. Here are some pics of the tree and the hole. I WAG'd the distance from the house and its about 14' to the hole. PS Thanks all you're help is invaluable!

those specks are poop... find the bandit ... [i think thats a mixed metaphor.. lol] she will be near on the color of the leaf ... and you should be able to find it... ken

"It should be unnecessary to point out that a weeping cherry is not technically a "fruit tree" despite the common name :-)" Well, yes, because it doesn't produce edible fruit. I should've been more specific. Since it is a prunus (likely a cultivar of prunus x subhirtella) it is a cherry/stone fruit, meaning it is in the rosaceae family. Most plants in the rosaceae family are disease and pest-prone (some more than others). This family includes fruit trees (even ornamentals) including cherries (prunus), plums, peaches, pears (pyrus), apples (malus), roses (rosa), and I believe there are a number of other ornamental and fruiting plants that I did not list. In other words, do not plant another rosaceae tree in place of this one, because there could be pathogens in the soil, and some left in the area from plant debris (leaves, twigs, etc.).