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Eldritch Cherry Tree

Hello,

I moved into a new house a couple of months ago. This cherry (I'm pretty sure it's cherry) tree is out the front (apologies that the main picture has been rotated to horizontal after i uploaded it. It should still give you a decent idea).

Im not into overly manicured plants, but this is far from ideal. Way too many straight shoots vertically and laterally, and a little too chaotic. Now the leaves have mostly dropped I can see it looks to have been coppiced at about head height at some point and then left to it.

So my questions are:

1) I know pruning of cherry trees is usually avoided in winter/spring. But is it less risky if I take out or shorten some of the thinner stems and branches before summer? It might improve the shape and encourage branching to make it look a bit less tentacle-like. I know pruning of vertical stuff should be done at an angle.

2)  What should my long term pruning strategy be to get it as good as it could be? What should it look like? Should I be going back to the original prune spots in the summer and taking it from there? Or just thining out and and bringing it in? Should I keep all the healthy, established stems that aren't rubbing on one another? Or would significantly less be better? And should I be looking to keep the bottom 1/3 of the plant pretty much clear? I know all the little new stems need to go. 

3) Does anyone know what kind of cherry (assuming it is cherry) it is? Is it a late flowering variety? Or has it just been tricked by the mild weather? 

Any advice, greatly appreciated. 
 

Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Not a Cherry, Viburnum x bodnantense. It flowers now and continues through winter. Any pruning can be done after flowering to avoid losing flowers. Cut some old stems right back to base rather than cutting them all shorter


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • nutcutlet said:
    Not a Cherry, Viburnum x bodnantense. It flowers now and continues through winter. Any pruning can be done after flowering to avoid losing flowers. Cut some old stems right back to base rather than cutting them all shorter
    Brilliant, will do. Thanks very much. Now I know what it is I can google pictures of slightly more shapely ones. 
  • pansyface said:
    Love the use of the word eldritch. Haven’t seen that used except when attached to the word scream. I was a fan of horror stories when I was a child. Always cheered up by an eldritch scream or two. 😊
    I don't use it lightly!

  • Welcome to the Forum!
    Do as @Nutcutlet says, they respond well to such pruning. A nice plant to have, trouble free. Mine keep flowering well into spring and the flowers are sweetly scented :)
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