If a proper tree surgeon advises taking off more, consider a woodpile for the wildlife. All sorts of creatures make a home in woodpiles. If it were me, I'd throw a wobbly for a day or two then decide it's fine and and look at ways that it's going to be even better
I've certainly seen much worse hatchet (or chainsaw) jobs done to flowering cherries in the past. Fingers crossed that there weren't any Silverleaf spores in the air when the cuts were fresh .... apart from that the tree will recover, grow new shoots and within a couple of years it'll be covered with blossom. Even if it does get a bit of Silverleaf, it's not really a fast-acting disease in my experience ... I had an ornamental prunus with it and it still performed pretty well.
Don't despair ... just put it down to experience and look forward to spotting the new growth on your tree ... it'll be lovely again.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thank you everybody your support you have given me and my wife hope x
It might be worth trying to find an experienced tree surgeon to have a look at your tree now and make a plan with them for the next few years. Mature trees like yours tend to throw dozens of water shoots for several years after a "hack" like your tree has had. These need to be thinned on an annual basis, leaving a few to develop to create a new framework. Also, it looks as if some of the stumps left need to be taken back more to form a better framework and hopefully remove the chance of dieback or silver leaf. A previous neighbour had a similar experience with 3 beautiful old Bramley apple trees along our shared drive. I think her trees actually looked worse than your cherry, sadly, they had no aftercare and turned into giant lollipops, they never fruited or flowered again. I had an unruly, weeping, silver-leafed pear tree thinned and shaped by a tree surgeon, in a previous garden. He took ages working on it. He removed a huge amount of growth from the tree but when he had finished you wouldn't have known the tree had been touched, so it can be done when the person doing the job knows what they are doing. Do not give up on your cherry and good luck in finding someone to help you remedy the damage that has been done.
@positive77 some neighbours had two huge trees massively chopped back a couple of years ago (in nesting season too!!), they looked awful, it made me so sad because all the birds loved those trees. Then the people over the road cut back my beautiful view of their huge birch - the gaps those tree branches left were shocking as they were around 60ft tall. They all came back beautifully though, me and the birds just had to be patient. 😊
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In the sticks near Peterborough
Don't despair ... just put it down to experience and look forward to spotting the new growth on your tree ... it'll be lovely again.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
https://www.rootsplants.co.uk/collections/ornamental-trees/products/flagpole-cherry-blossom-tree-prunus-amanogowa?variant=40448554565792?view=google&msclkid=59ec59f4436c1bd9c5f13a290bdb8011&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Ornamental%20Trees%20-%20Shopping%20(Standard)&utm_term=4587987152360624&utm_content=product%20type%3Dornamental%20trees
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
A previous neighbour had a similar experience with 3 beautiful old Bramley apple trees along our shared drive. I think her trees actually looked worse than your cherry, sadly, they had no aftercare and turned into giant lollipops, they never fruited or flowered again.
I had an unruly, weeping, silver-leafed pear tree thinned and shaped by a tree surgeon, in a previous garden. He took ages working on it. He removed a huge amount of growth from the tree but when he had finished you wouldn't have known the tree had been touched, so it can be done when the person doing the job knows what they are doing.
Do not give up on your cherry and good luck in finding someone to help you remedy the damage that has been done.