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An ornamental cherry (I think) grows on a bank next to, and overhangs our garden. In past years it has flowered, then been covered in purple coloured leaves until they turn scarlet and drop in the autumn.

This year, as before, the blossom was beautiful and abundant and the subsequent leaves seemed to be developing normally, but I've noticed over the past couple of weeks that the leaves have started to look brown and wilted, and the tree looks really sad - almost as if its dying.

My immediate thought was that it was strangulation by honeysuckle and got the shears out, but that doesn't seem to have helped.

If anyone knows what might be wrong with the tree and has any ideas whether it is a curable or fatal condition, I'd be very grateful for advice.

Thanks

Cherries are often attacked by borers. Do you see any holes in the bark or sap draining?
We lost a weeping flowering cherry that way.

I haven't seen any holes in the bark, but as the tree is on the opposite side of our boundary hedge, I haven't really looked that closely - I'll check tonight when I get home.

Thanks for the advice

Has it had some root disturbance? Or maybe its very dry with the recent weather, if so it should recover. It is possible that its weedkiller drift.

I'd agree the problem with the cherry is to do with the roots in one way or another.
Sounds like lack of water - here in Essex we've had no proper rain for well over 6 weeks now. Some trees and shrubs are suffering badly.
Sometimes the land changes near to the tree, for example someone paving an area nearby can lead to loss of supply to the tree. If the water board have been along in the road and fixed a few leaky pipes, again this can have an effect.

Now that I remember about our cherry tree dying it was a slow process, each year more and more branches died until it became unsightly. That doesn't sound like your description.
We still have the cherry wood. A man came with a portable saw and made it into boards, all nicely dried now but we haven't gotten around to building anything with them ::)  Need inspiration.

Honey fungus?

How about bacterial canker.

valmarg

Thanks for all the advice... not sure how I pin down which of the suggestions is the possible cause though... personally I prefer ipt8's that the tree will recover!! but to follow up with the others:

- can't find any significant holes in the bark that would suggestion borers (phew)
- there's definitely been no root disturbance, or any changes to the road alongside the bank the tree grows on.
- not sure about canker or honey fungus - admittedly I'm not sure what I would be looking for but, other than the sickly looking leaves and a few dead branches, there's nothing on the tree that looks any different to last year.
- we've had a fair bit of rain in these 'ere parts and would the blossom on the tree be as spectacular as it was this spring if the tree was suffering from a water deficiency?

GrannieAnnie, sorry to hear that your tree suffered a slow death... how about a bookcase with the boards you had cut?

I think you should consider the possibility that your tree is diseased, and not going to recover.

We had a problem 'next door' where they had an ornamental weeping cherry tree which was suffering from bacterial canker.  For at least ten years they would not be told that their tree was a menace.  We lost a fruiting cherry tree and a Victoria plum tree.

Sorry sunnyb, but it seems your tree is more trouble than it's worth.

valmarg