Here is a larger picture.

{{gwi:98710}}

sky garden:

The blossom buds in your photos look pretty much normal to me, but if you say they are crunchy, they are crunchy.

One of the principal reasons that cherry trees do not prosper, and I suppose this would also be true for potted trees, is an excess of water around the roots. Wet feet causes the superstructure of the tree above to die back. If you are aware of this fact, and are carefully calibrating your watering to the needs of the trees, you should be ok, but if you are watering every day that is surely too often.

Brown rot is usually considered a problem of the fruit, although it can also spread to affect twigs and eventually entire limbs. Bacterial canker diseases can also infect cherry trees, but yours has neither of these.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

The buds used to be white, plump, and round--ready to burst open. Now everything is brown.

I had read a few things about the water issue with cherries (in relation to brown rot) and wondered whether our wet week last week was to blame for the growth of some ick that attacked the blossoms after the wet weather. I will make sure there are sufficient holes in the bottom of the pot and watch the watering. Hopefully the tree will recover.

BTW, jellyman, I followed your spraying advice on my previous post about these poor trees. The leaves on the Montmorency are shiny so far (no white stuff!), and I've followed up with a mild mite spray when I spied a few webs. So far, so good on that front--thanks!

Check for damage to the trunk. Feel for soft spots. It's possible you have borers or some other problem in the trunk that has "girdled" your tree by killing the layers of tissue below the bark that transport water and nutrients. I had this happen to a sweet cherry. Not likely in your case, but a possiblity.
If it doesn't leaf out by Summer, I'd say it's a goner. If you do chop it down, saw the trunk and a few branches open and examine the interior. You may find insects and/or disease beneath the bark.