Blog de Puree

Trees often have a mind of their own, as our Japanese Flowering Cherry tree demonstrated when it was planted on the east side of our yard, in our front lawn. The leader, or main part of the trunk that typically extends straight up was disappointingly small and one of the branches grew large and strong toward the east to get out from under the shade of our gigantic Sugar Maple tree. (A poor location choice on my part when originally planting the cherry tree.)

As I blogged earlier this summer, I transplanted a number of trees around the yard to better locations and the Japanese Flowering Cherry Tree was moved to the top corner of our driveway. Once the tree was moved, I was hoping that the leader would get a chance at more sun and grow quickly. It did, but not as much as the other main branch, which went gang-busters, causing me to have to restake the tree for better support.

I observed that the point where the large branch and the leader separated was not a perfect angle, in that the leader did not go straight up at that particular point, but pointed off to the side a bit, then straightened where I had it secured to a stake. I decided that it would be OK to make the large branch the leader.

I took the large branch and gently straightened it, securing the now-upper parts of the branch to the stake. The branch is still young and supple, so I was able to move it fairly easily. There is a bit of a bow where it branches from the former leader, but that has actually lessened and began to straighten over the last two weeks.

The new leader is growing tall, straight and strong and the tree looks better and healthier. I also won’t have to prune the largest and most prolific branch this next spring.