Who is familiar with plants and trees??

[ruffledfeathers]

I am so new to all this. I lived in apartments and condos much of my life and have owned my house for only a couple years. I have narrowed down most of the trees and plants in my yard, but, although very common, i have no idea what kind of tree this little guy is. It has weeping "branches" and blooms very pretty in spring. It needs a "haircut" right now actually!!
I took a pic of the buds, the bloom and the tree in full.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Wow, it sure is a beautiful tree. Hopefully someone m owe what it is

 

[locito277]

Beautiful tree. Is it a type of willow?

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Ok, a friend of mine just said she thinks it is called a white weeping cherry tree. I think that looks right, based on google images. Once it all blooms, it smells so pretty.

 

[Parrotdise]

Yep It is weeping cherry i have a baby one in my yard that i planted 3 springs ago. Mine just finished blooming and is getting little berries but that won't last long with all the birds. =)

 

[ruffledfeathers]

Parrotdise, any special way i should be pruning it? When i bought this house 2 years ago, it looked like a bush (all sides dragged the ground). I trimmed it up a little, like 8 inches off the ground because i kept hitting it with my lawn mower. I see them sometimes cut to look more like a tree, with the weepy branches short. The tree itself is probably only 6 feet tall.....and it's about that wide too.

 

[Parrotdise]

Honestly, i don't really know that much about trimming i have been leaving mine kind of longer and more weepy looking i guess...my tree is not real full of branches yet. I need to trim it though because some branches are starting to touch the ground. I was going to wait until i the leaves come out. I was worried i might shock it.

 

[Parrotdise]

Ok you got me wondering this is what i found Pruning A Weeping Cherry Tree: How To Trim Weeping Cherry Trees

 

[ruffledfeathers]

thanks. i actually found some interesting information late last night too and was going to share it with you. Always good to know what you're dealing with, especially when you want it to continue to look beautiful and healthy for years to come.

 

[aliray]

Yes it is a weeping cherry and it is a beauty. Pretty house too.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Yes, it's a weeping cherry, and you can just prune away. I usually prune all my trees in the fall, so don't go overly sheer crazy.

 

[ruffledfeathers]

I have a small dogwood in my yard too. It is also cut to look almost like a bush (maybe 6 feet tall and round, from maybe 8 inches off the ground to the top). Prune that in the fall too??

 

[JerseyWendy]

Yes. If it needs hard pruning, do it in the fall.

All trees should be hard pruned in the fall (IF you want to hard prune that is), after the leaves have fallen off. You can do little trims here and there during active growing season, but never more than 1/3 of the entire tree.

The same applies to flowering shrubs.