A Tree Of Two Halves

[poliphilo]

There's a cherry tree in a garden on my in-laws' street which has a top half that lags several weeks behind its bottom half. When the lower branches were blossoming the upper branches were bare- and I assumed it was dying. Now the bottom branches are in leaf and the upper branches are blossoming. I've never seen anything like it before.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Our cherry tree did something similar this year. The top half is way behind the bottom.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So it's not uncommon. How strange.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

It isn't that common, really. Our tree is maybe 15 years old and this is the first year I've seen that happen. I'll have to do some research.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Please tell me if you find anything.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I will! So far all I've seen has to do with temperatures and rainfall amounts or the lack thereof. Maybe the climate in many places just conspired to make this happen? So far, no conclusive findings.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Is it a graft, perhaps?

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

The same thing happened to my cherry tree here in southern Spain and it's not a graft.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. Thanks.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I doubt it, but I can't be definite. It's quite a big tree.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

It was an idea, anyway. How curious!

P avium chekhovensis, perhaps.

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

Or possibly a Housman's cherry, with an extra loveliness season added on.

Re: P avium chekhovensis, perhaps.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Two bites, so to speak.

[sovay]

When the lower branches were blossoming the upper branches were bare- and I assumed it was dying. Now the bottom branches are in leaf and the upper branches are blossoming.

It sounds like a piece of iconography.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A heraldic device perhaps...