Texas Gardening: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee Cherries in Texas, 1 by cr0ak

cr0ak wrote:
I think because of the lemon grass, it didn't grow as large as it probably should have this first year. This is what it looks like as of this morning. Note that there are small branches (and leaves) pretty much only on the right side of the tree. I think this is because the lemon grass just blocked out most of the sun. It doesn't really bother me, though, because I'd have to prune the left side anyway, since that's the side where I'll be planting another cherry tree (and, due to the closeness of the trees, they'll be treated as one single tree).

If you look at the staked trees to the left (and behind) the cherry tree, you'll see the difference in the heights. Those are three different types of pear trees, and although they were about twice the size of the cherry tree when I planted them last year, they've grown considerably larger than the cherry tree. To the right and behind are two apple trees (you really can only see one in the photo), and they, too, have grown quite large in less than one year.

And, btw, pardon the mess in my gardens. I haven't gotten out there to clean those pine needles out of the gardens. My neighbor (to the right of the photo) has about a dozen pine trees that drop year-round. We've whacked off some of the branches that are over the property line, but some of the larger ones are just too high up to reach (even the arborist we had out here a few weeks ago didn't want to tackle trying to take them down - especially since he's not allowed to go onto their property without their permission.... which they'd probably never agree to).