where are you

how about some pix

dead parts are dead .. no pruning timing issue.. remove dead ..

if you are in the cold north ... i suspect winter cold damage ... especially if they are dead down to about where snow cover was ...

i doubt the beetles had anything to do with it all

i am not aware they can be rooted .. anything is possible .. its the probability that counts ...

convert your common name to the latin in google.. then add the word PROPAGATION ... and you can bone up on that ...

ken

That is something I always wanted to know...if a tree/shrub had a life expectancy. Would the cutting from the same tree/shrub be the age of the original tree/shrub. Or...because of new growth it doesn't apply to age of original tree/shrub once rooted. (Or an air layered if that is how one propagates the species)

On side note...I cut mine back hard a few years back. Thinking I had killed it in a transplant. It's gorgeous now! Never looked so large and bloomed profoundly.

Wish you luck...on what ever action you take.

Yes you can cut it back now. It a couple of years it will look good again.

Thanks for your input folks!

I am in zone 5b, Greater Montreal area. We had a very cold winter, but that's not exactly something particularly strange around these parts. However, I actually have several other types of trees that are showing some major dead branch issues (including my massive elderberry bush that I'll be posting about soon, and another one I don't know the name of offhand...). I did wonder if I might have spread some sort of disease by pruning with the same pruning shears. Is that possible.

As for the sand cherry, I read about this particular tree/bush and it seems to be easy to propagate from hardwood cuttings, but I was concerned about the health of the tree and propagating from it when it is in such bad shape.

I've taken a few shots for you to see what I'm dealing with.

This is a picture of the "best" of the worse, I've trimmed most of the dead stuff off this one already, which is why it is so sparse in the middle. Some dead-ish branches still had new leaves on the tips, so I left those.

Here are shots of the worse case. So much of it is dead that you can hardly even tell what is in the picture! There's some suckering at the base and the leaf color is off (darker and more coppery), which I think has something to do with shade. This one is so ugly, I'd like to cut it back hard right now, rather than wait til it is dormant. I recall reading somewhere that we're supposed to wait til late winter to cut back hard, which is why I asked about whether it can be done right now.

You have more patience than I! Then again, Prunus cistena is a plant I grew tired of decades ago, owing in no small measure to its short lifespan. But yes, beautiful when healthy.

Do as thou wilt, but I wouldn't spend too much time on so impermanent a landscape element.

+oM

I was wondering about this "short lifespan" aspect... If you keep rejuvenating it by periodically cutting it back hard, does that literally give it new life, or does it always depend on the original planting date? I do find them quite pretty, so I would like to try to salvage them. Besides, being a very inept gardener/landscaper, I'm trying to work with what I have first, before investing in new plants and shrubs. So far, the past two years have been about removing and trimming stuff, as my mature landscape was VERY overgrown. I gained a lot of square footage and openness by doing this.

you guys are being way to fixated on the short life span idea ...

i have seen lilac in front of centennial farms.. huge.. huge plants ... that i would bet have been there since the house was built ... that is a long life span ...

anything less ... is short lived ... its that simple.. its not a book definition ... its just a gardeners expectation ...

you could use the same logic for 300 year old oaks ... and trees that kinda poop out at 50 years ... 50 years being a shorter lifespan .....and in this case.. its more about when the tree gets so large.. so fast... it just starts shattering ... or some such ...

as for age of cuttings ... as far as i am concerned.. if you start a babe.. its a babe ... if any of these things can be rooted ... many things can be ... heat mats.. misting gear .. greenhouses.. etc ...

can a gardener do it.. sure anything possible ... but usually not probable .. but why not try ...

both in the pix above.. have aggressive low growth ... i would cut them to about 6 inches ... and see what happens over the next 3 to 5 years ... maybe trying to reduce to one trunk ...but one thing for sure ... well two ...

i would not look at either of those .. as is ... they would have been cut back a few years back ...

and second... do not expect them to regenerate.. to the exact form they were before ... it will fail.. if that is your parameter ... but they should come back.. and be trainable into some nice form ...

but if in a year or two ... you arent happy .. just get rid of them ... life too short.. to have your plants pissing you off .. lol

ken

Saw those bushes down to healthy growth now. No point in waiting. If you don't think they are worth the time and stress, either now, or in a couple years when they leaf out, can em.

Prunus cistena is in no way comparable to something like lilac, which quite literally will outlast us all. All plums/cherries/peaches (all part of the same group of plants actually) are notoriously short-lived. This isn't some wild guess on my part, but a well-acknowledged fact of horticulture. To not tell this person this important factoid would be unkind.

Lady, rejuvenation of multi-stemmed shrubs via that pruning method can indeed bring new life to many shrub types, but this is not especially one of them. Sure, you've got nothing to lose by trying. Just don't expect miracles. Plants within this group are extremely susceptible to a wide range of insect and pathogen problems. Ken knows this. Not sure why he's undergoing selective memory disease at present!

+oM

There's no harm in trying to salvage them, so I will. I've seen other posts here which include "post-rejuvenation" images that would qualify as a miracle in my book. But I have fairly low expectations at the moment, so it wouldn't take much to make me happy!

I hope to post update images in later years, if I remember to do so...

Really appreciate all the input!

Foreignlady,
Check out this thread. It can be done, and it can be beautiful.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1604512/sand-cherrydead-or-will-we-have-a-chance-of-it-coming-back-nex?n=13

Thanks Steppskie, that is very beautiful and encouraging. That person's entire landscaping is really gorgeous, in fact...