Hi Cory! It looks like sunburn to me. I would cover the affected area with a paper towel tube or foil to give it a break from the sun. Those can't stay on there forever or the bark gets kinda weird, but you can also buy a flexible tree guard from home depot for about $4 and that has vented holes in it and not sure but I think that one can stay on a lot longer. I bought one for my weeping willow & the trunk was small enough I actually cut the guard in half & made it cover a much larger section.

Don't worry, it's nothing life-threatening. You should see how ugly the trunks of some of my plumes look, yet they're perfectly healthy at the growth tips.

There's splitting bark, stretch marks, sunburn, peeling black bark from cold or sun damage, even deep caterpillar chomping holes, etc. As long as the damage doesn't go more than halfway thru the trunk, they just heal over on a healthy tree.

I'll stop worrying and enjoy the pretty flowers, which I fear won't last much longer.

By the way, how many new branches do you think would be too much? This single main branch is now putting off five new branches at the top, although the fifth one is still just a tiny nub right now.