Without getting to complicated the fact that cherries have so many disease and pest problems makes them a shorter lived species. Thats not to say if you have one growing in optimal conditions and ends up free of disease and pests your particular tree could live for 50-60 years. Its just you have lower odds of the tree ever reaching that age due to its suspectability to dieases and pests. Putting disease and pest issues aside, genetics have much to do with a potential life span...one of which is growth rate.

The poster has a Yoshino Cherry in a 24 inch pot. No place to plant it, wants to have it as potted plant. Needs advice. The tree you mention is more likely several years old. At 7 feet, probably more than 3. Take the tree out of your house immediately. If it is leafed out, move it in only when frost threatens. (In NC, I hope you are done w/frost.) In the fall, allow it to freeze so that the leaves fall off, otherwise it will not bloom. You cannot keep the tree indoors for extended periods, summer or winter. In the summer, the indoor light is not strong enough, and when it goes out all the leaves will fry. In the winter, it will not go dormant and likely die after one such treatment. BTW, a potted tree outdoors does better in shade than in full sun. Two feet is a decent sized pot, but this tree will out grow that in a year or 2. You can do root and branch pruning to keep it a 7 ft. "bonsai", but that will require wrestling the tree out of its pot, knowing how much to cut, and repotting. All the while, judicious watering will be required. Did you sign up for that? These trees are sold with the idea that they will be planted out. Ideally, you could plant it alongside your patio area, maybe 20 ft or more away from any building. Lacking that, you have bought a pet tree that will need more care than an Angora cat. Maybe somebody will chime in with an easier process. Do you have a friend, relative or somebody who has room for the tree who would allow you to visit when it blooms and to lounge in its shade?

It was said "Stop pruning it. ... they bloom on old wood" Well, sort of "old" wood. They bloom on last year's wood. So, the key to a full crown of bloom each year -- ignoring possible nasty weather events -- is to prune every year right after the bloom is gone. If you wait until later in the year, you will remove the buds that set beginnng in July/August. The new wood that grows this year will support next year's flowers. Don't give it a "bowl cut" which removes only the ends of the branches. But go all the way into the crown. It's likely you can find instructions & images with an online search.

Prunus x subhirtella 'Pendula' is a synonym of P. pendula. The large growing, seed raised P. pendula have their own bark all the way to the ground. Although still present in the inhabited landscape these are effectively commercially extinct in North America. The top grafted, named horticultural selections offered instead are perched on a sweet cherry (Prunus avium) trunk. Or the trunk of whichever other cherry was used to provide the trunk for the grafted combination (finished stock resulting from the use of named rootstock selections such as the Gisela series for grafting Japanese cherries instead of sweet cherry was beginning to see some presence on the market awhile back). Some weeping cherries that have been seen and identified in my area are P. pendula (tiny, blush pink), P. pendula 'Pendula Plena Rosea' (semi double, rosette like, rose pink), P. pendula 'Pendula Rubra' (single, deep pink) and Snow Fountains ('Snofozam') (white). This last is from Lake County Nursery in Perry OH, was introduced around 1985 and has since become quite common here. I have also seen at least one other weeping cherry introduction made by them on the local market in later years: http://www.lakecountynursery.com/lcns%20sell%20sheets/PinkSnowShowers.pdf