Here in North America this highly popular variety has already become obsolete due to disease problems. We are talking about 'Prairie Fire', are we not? If so, I have an extremely hard time accepting the above as even slightly true, as all other crabapple resources continue to list this cultivar as one of the best performers and extremely disease resistant, including our local WSU crabapple evaluation program: " 'Prairifire' stands out among the pink-blooming crabapples for its strong, vibrant color, long-lasting late bloom, and disease resistance, best of the pink varieties so far tested." And I'd hardly call it obsolete - it is currently being grown and offered by all manner of wholesalers, not to mention sold by most local retailers. And all that I've encountered in the landscape look just fine - no issues at all. Mature size under ideal conditions should be about 20'X15-18'.

finally.. way too much grass... get a move on the rest of the garden.. lol Ken, I'm getting there :D I converted more than 2000+ sqft of lawn to instant bed this year. I'll do more next year because I got so tired. I still have tons of perennials and annuals to plant. Check out my garden plan. You will see the transition. Also, I don't recall if I posted a pic of left bed and right bed meeting at the middle. It shows on the drawing. However, I think something is missing on the crabapple area and the lime tree(honeylocust). Looks like I need to create a bed there too but can't figure out what shape to use. :D Thanks brandon. Here is a link that might be useful: my garden plan

Thanks you all for your assurances about Roundup. I was wondering if that was a little far out. Thanks Ken for your idea of the sapsucker woodpecker. My husband himself was wondering about a bird. There is no sap running at this time, so we'll see how things go. As far as the splits - another conjecture is that the tree is growing so fast that the "skin" is not keeping up. We plant good stock trees with root balls wrapped in burlap in large holes and water well until they are established; then keep up a regular watering schedule. People always comment about how amazingly well our trees do. I am sure it is because of the good soil my husband brought in and the care. SOO it could be unusually fast growth. What do you all think?

‘Well if you like the grown tree by definition I haven't spoiled it...’. If you like .... Obviously it's not my tree but I would like it better if it had been left in peace. Imo it has been spoiled because one can see exactly where it was lopped back five years ago and where the long straight new growth shot up the following year. A naturally shaped ornamental crab doesn't have that obvious visible line through the canopy which breaks up the branching structure. There’s nothing to be done now but the trees would look far more attractive without any further cutting so they can resume their natural growth pattern. Why chop it off and wait five years for recovery when if it had been left alone it would have been beautiful every year? Tell your wife you’ll leave them alone from now on and in a few years they will have recovered sufficiently to hide the damage to the structure, in the summer at least. But sadly you’ve lost next spring’s bloom display. Maybe buy another one for her to enjoy next year as a peace offering? Or a different ornamental tree? You have plenty of space.