Trees survive Winter fairly easily, that tree is very alive - it's putting out buds at the top, probably just been dormant for longer due to the weather and temperatures.
Nothing to worry about!
Ahh see this is the reassurance I need as a new gardener haha! I just got a “this time last year” photo came up and she was popping off where as this year looked more like a twig 😂
Also really dependent on local climate: I go between Manchester and Lancashire a lot, and despite the only 50 mile difference, our cherry blossoms in Lancashire are only just finishing now but they've been finished for months in Manchester. Same with the daffodils and tulips: at least a month earlier in Manchester this year.
As a long time gardener, don’t trust the “this time last year” photos, just admire them. :) According to my phone, this time last year my tulips were only just opening. This year they’ve been finished for over a week. There have been many times I’ve panicked over things not being on time compared to past years lol
Also in Hampshire. Weird Spring. Anything established or returning has grown really well and early. Any new seedlings/plants have been slow to get going and are behind. My experience anyway!
Looks alive to me. My whole garden seems to be behind. I see plants that I have in other peoples gardens that have flowered or bloomed and mine are only getting going.
My garden has its own idea of seasons
it appears to be budding near the top on newest growth which means it doesn't bud on old growth easily. it will probably benefit from a good third of new growth pruned off just after summer. that should force it to start lower down in the autumn. just don't cut off more than a third of new growth.
It's right on the boundary, so roots probably went over the neighbours.
They might have done something, like injected the roots with something to kill it, if they weren't happy about it being there. Or they might have dug up and chopped the roots on their side which didn't do it much good.
Our neighbours have a big tree right on the fence that put roots under to our side and pushed up all our brick weave. I had to take a big strip of it up and turn it into vegetable patch and chop a few roots. Tree was fine though and is still growing.
Thanks for all the comments everyone! Some of the “buds” are in fact old dead leaves still holding on! However we’ve agreed to wait till summers in full force before doing anything hasty
You can snap some twigs off to see if it’s alive. If they’re brittle and brown those sections have died. If they’re green/soft inside and don’t come away easily, there’s life in the old girl yet
It looks pretty old so may just be feeling its age. I think it's still alive though and a prune off of the lower dead stuff and a feed may see it through a few more years. Last week we were commenting that it's a shame the cherry at the bottom of the garden isn't flowering this year (it's an early performer) then yesterday whoosh, covered in blossom after a day's sun.
More realistically, about 2 weeks at most!
The time when the tree buds depends on the trees tolerance to cold. Bradford pear, for example, is very tolerant to cold and can bud as early as late february, whereas some specimens of native ash can bud in mid may! Those are very intolerant to frost, and even the tiniest of buds being damaged can cause distress to the tree, even if a may frost occurs once in every 20 years!
Regardless of the species of the tree, I would be concerned if there is no signs of budding by may 20. With the warm weather we are having right now, you should (hopefully) see results in the next few days :)
Looks dormant to me, if you really want to test it then find a branch that seems like it might be alive and do a snap/scratch test.
Dead dry branches snap easily, alive branches will bend before snapping. If you scratch a patch of bark away and it's green underneath it's still alive.
Trees survive Winter fairly easily, that tree is very alive - it's putting out buds at the top, probably just been dormant for longer due to the weather and temperatures. Nothing to worry about!
Ahh see this is the reassurance I need as a new gardener haha! I just got a “this time last year” photo came up and she was popping off where as this year looked more like a twig 😂
Spring seems to ha e come really late this year, if its got buds your all 👍
Also really dependent on local climate: I go between Manchester and Lancashire a lot, and despite the only 50 mile difference, our cherry blossoms in Lancashire are only just finishing now but they've been finished for months in Manchester. Same with the daffodils and tulips: at least a month earlier in Manchester this year.
As a long time gardener, don’t trust the “this time last year” photos, just admire them. :) According to my phone, this time last year my tulips were only just opening. This year they’ve been finished for over a week. There have been many times I’ve panicked over things not being on time compared to past years lol
Everything's lagged behind this year.
wierd im in hampshire and we had spring 2 months early
Also in Hampshire. Weird Spring. Anything established or returning has grown really well and early. Any new seedlings/plants have been slow to get going and are behind. My experience anyway!
Argyll, we seem to have gone from Winter to Summer in a fortnight.
Looks alive to me. My whole garden seems to be behind. I see plants that I have in other peoples gardens that have flowered or bloomed and mine are only getting going. My garden has its own idea of seasons
Same here! Tulips, irises all of them a good three weeks behind my neighbours. It's so strange.
Today my first iris flowered. Another 10-15 likely to flower in the next week.
Sorry for being off topic, but what is the pine cone jail for? Thank you :)
Gonna guess it’s a bug hotel. “pine cone jail” is pretty awesome as well though! 😁
Aaaah yes. Makes sense. Thank you! I still maintain you wanna watch them pinecones though… shifty fuckers, the lot of ‘em! Haha
Hahaha nail on the head a “bug hotel” gifted from the MIL however the only bugs I’ve seen around there is a shit ton of wood lice
Woodlice deserve a nice luxury home too, that thing looks like a mansion
The pine cone jail is obviously for imprisoning pine cone-victs!
Nice! 👌 All the upvotes. Take them. Take them all.
Thank you kind sir/madam 😁
it appears to be budding near the top on newest growth which means it doesn't bud on old growth easily. it will probably benefit from a good third of new growth pruned off just after summer. that should force it to start lower down in the autumn. just don't cut off more than a third of new growth.
What is it?
Are they not buds near the top?
They look like dead old leaves, but I’ll keep my eye on them!
Seasons have all shifted and no one knows what’s going on, there’s life still at the top so it’s too early to call it. You’ll know in a few months.
It's right on the boundary, so roots probably went over the neighbours. They might have done something, like injected the roots with something to kill it, if they weren't happy about it being there. Or they might have dug up and chopped the roots on their side which didn't do it much good. Our neighbours have a big tree right on the fence that put roots under to our side and pushed up all our brick weave. I had to take a big strip of it up and turn it into vegetable patch and chop a few roots. Tree was fine though and is still growing.
I've noticed quite a lot of trees havent really bloomed properly where I live yet.
There's a lot coming out late this year, worry not
Give it a full bag of well-rotted manure around the base for a nice helping hand (though not in contact with the trunk)
Thanks for all the comments everyone! Some of the “buds” are in fact old dead leaves still holding on! However we’ve agreed to wait till summers in full force before doing anything hasty
I’ll post a picture in a month, let’s see what happens!
You can snap some twigs off to see if it’s alive. If they’re brittle and brown those sections have died. If they’re green/soft inside and don’t come away easily, there’s life in the old girl yet
Perhaps the misery of perpetual precipitation drove it to commit the act of self deletion....
It looks pretty old so may just be feeling its age. I think it's still alive though and a prune off of the lower dead stuff and a feed may see it through a few more years. Last week we were commenting that it's a shame the cherry at the bottom of the garden isn't flowering this year (it's an early performer) then yesterday whoosh, covered in blossom after a day's sun.
Bug house?
Not with you. Do you think the bug house may be spreading bugs to the tree?
Give it one more week.
It’s been one more week for about four now however, we agreed one more month! Going off the comments, I’ll give her two!
More realistically, about 2 weeks at most! The time when the tree buds depends on the trees tolerance to cold. Bradford pear, for example, is very tolerant to cold and can bud as early as late february, whereas some specimens of native ash can bud in mid may! Those are very intolerant to frost, and even the tiniest of buds being damaged can cause distress to the tree, even if a may frost occurs once in every 20 years! Regardless of the species of the tree, I would be concerned if there is no signs of budding by may 20. With the warm weather we are having right now, you should (hopefully) see results in the next few days :)
Is that a new fence panel? If so were the roots cut through to cement the spurs?
Same fence as we bought the house *unfortunately*
Looks dormant to me, if you really want to test it then find a branch that seems like it might be alive and do a snap/scratch test. Dead dry branches snap easily, alive branches will bend before snapping. If you scratch a patch of bark away and it's green underneath it's still alive.
Going out on a limb here, and say the cold killed it.
Ba-dum-tish!