Hi comop, Welcome to The Plant Exchange! Please see the link below for instructions on getting your Member Page email link set up so that you can easily be reached for trading. chemocurl...aka Sue Here is a link that might be useful: addressing newbie and newer member issues

the name prunus.. to me, anyway .. indicates that it has a history of needing to be .... get ready ... pruned ... lol branches incapable of supporting themselves.. MIGHT be an indication of over fertilization.. where in the plant grew out .. faster than it bulked up .. leading to whispy branches ... prune them back half way... and i wouldnt be surprised that the shorter branch simply springs up into better form .... as that shorter branch thickens... you will be able to get longer reach ... now.. how did it come to be over fertilized... being a tree ... it NEVER needs fert ... did or do you fert??/ then of course.. the birds are adding fert ... all trees need is water.. and they will grow accordingly.. if you are fert'ing.. stop ... and we can live with what the birds add ... in winter .. there is a drawdown of sap ... increased in extreme cold.. and MAYBE that is what is happening .... in my world.. my eye are more improtant than tree branches... get some good pruning shears .. and bring the branches up high enough so that you can safely walk under them ... if you need help with pruning... get a good pic.. and we can make suggestions ... its a prunus... it needs to be pruned... lol ken

We moved to our current home in 2007. Now with plenty of space and sun, I can consider sun loving plants. The property has been neglected for many years. It was kept decent but its former life was a small working farm and apple orchard. The fields were kept open by leasing them to a dairy farmer for growing cow corn but the farmer was careless and didn't feel it was his responsibility to correct erosion problems. A new farmer has agreed to take over and since he also owns logging equipment the first step was to clear areas where the woods had started to encroach on the field. He and his helpers are still in the prep process although he had expected to seed a hay crop this year. A cold, wet summer has disrupted his schedule. For anyone who dreams of acreage, let me explain that it involves a big responsibility. I keep reminding myself that I want to keep flower and vegetable gardens manageable. I'm not getting any younger and at our other place we didn't have to worry about witch grass. Interests evolving? Mine are facing reality. Half of hot, humid sunday was spent removing a circular garden bed that was poorly planned by the former gardeners. It only took one year of neglect to turn into a nasty weed infested plot. Fortunately my husband has a small back hoe so after removing chunks onto a tarp we sorted out what perennials could be saved (not many) and sent bucket loads of weedy crap to the junk pile. (notice I did not say compost) I am still debating what is the best use of this small bed. Necessity demanded stairs down the steep slope between the new garage and the old rickety barn so my husband could access a basement level garage. This became my new shade garden. Meanwhile the first new garden bed I planted in 2007 became neglected. It is a narrow herb bed along a narrow brick walk to the former primary entrance to the house. Handy to the former location of the kitchen but relegated to occasional use now that we have a new kitchen on the other end of the house. The circumstances of a sunnier location erased what I used to know about my plants. They grow much more enthusiastically under sunnier conditions. I need to cut back more often. The cat mint, nepeta mussini if I remember correctly, is luxuriant but now overwhelms the bed. My interests aren't evolving. My new situations demand different approaches and better planning. My husband and I have taken quite a few garden tours over the years. We both prefer a landscape that is manageable by the two of us, me as chief gardener and weeder, he has heavy equipment operator and lawn mower. We want our property to have purpose. Before I looked for pretty, now I wanted a shrub by the bird feeder in front of the kitchen window that will appeal to the birds yet not grow too tall. (Viburnum and cotoneaster, I love you.) I still put pretty, an old washtub full of impatiens, next to the granite step into the barn, color coordinated to look nice next to the faded red paint. (the barn is weathered gray) I really like having cherry tomatoes planted along our small kitchen porch but after two years in the same location and this years blighty summer, they need to go someplace else next year. An old apple tree behind our house was almost swallowed up by woods. My husband trimmed out some trees and it has gratefully responded to more sun but a decent maple still hides most of it. I think my husband will choose to sacrifice the maple. The deer have already lost several old apple trees to the hay field renovations. We debate the location of a future crab apple. It must not get in the way of our view but we want to be able to enjoy the spring show. I'd like a variety that would attract cedar wax wings, birds I had never seen before I started going to a bank that had a trees with tiny crab apples next to the parking lot. I choose some red flowers to plant that will attract hummingbirds. We lived here for a brief time in the early 70s. The old maples along the driveway were dying back then so my husband transplanted a sapling without any real reason for choosing that particular location across the driveway from the house. It now provides summer shade for the south facing kitchen windows and in winter, a great place to hang bird feeders. So, for me, it is not evolving interests but evolving necessities and purpose.

Actually, searching under Prunus serrulata Mount Fuji or 'Shirotae' turns up a number of sources: Monrovia, Farmington Gardens, Forest Farms, etc. Despite what the "correct" botanical name may be, it seems most sites still refer to it as a selection of Prunus serrulata. As with many fruiting trees and ornamental varieties of the same genera, you may find it more widely available in late winter when the new stock is being brought in to nurseries and other retail outlets. Also a much better time to plant, as well.