When to move flowering trees???

Hi, everyone :) I was wondering if anyone could tell me when would be best to move 2 of my flowering trees. One we planted outside of our boundary line (oops!) and the other the builder planted much too close to the house.

The are:

1) Prunus cerasifera 'Newportii'
Newport Cherry Plum

2) Bradford Pear

They are both relatively newly planted, less than a full year in the ground. The pear is a little over 10' and the plum is roughly 8' tall. They are both in bud right now, although the pear looks furthur along than the plum. The ground here is not frozen. Both plants receive completely full sun and have not been pruned yet this year.

Thank you soooo much!!!

Jacci :)

Well, it's best to move the trees when they are completely dormant, but you could move them now if they have not yet leafed out.

You may want to re-think the Bradford pear - a tree that will fall apart in 20 years or less. There are hundreds of trees far more worthy of planting than the Bradford pear.

My .02 (o:)
Good luck,
Mike

Oh yeah, a hearty AMEN to your Bradford Pear critique! We aren't keeping that tree, a neighbor wants it. That's the tree the builder put in much too close to the house, I never would've picked it in a million years. I told my neighbor all about the negatives, but a free tree is a free tree, I guess. I'm not replacing it with a new tree, either. A bird feeder/pole is going in its place! :) LOL!

So, basically, we should try to get this tree over to his yard asap? My DH was wondering if waiting until fall would be better, but wondered about how much more rooted the tree would be by then. The Bradford Pear has been in since April 2004 and the Plum since June 2004.

Thank you sooooo very much!
Jacci

I'm with Mike, and I would add that Newport plums would be on my avoidance list as well. At least the pear might be trained into a decent tree with annual pruning attention -- there is no such hope for the purple plum, due to its many insect problems and its gaudy color that is so hard to work into a landscape design. Why nor consider that "Oops" thing to be a gift to the neighbor, leave it there to avoid the work of moving it, let him cut it down himself in a few years when it dies, and plant a better tree in your own yard? There are SOOO many better ones to choose from.

Guy S.

Thanks, guys. But, if I'm gonna move the tree... now is the time???

Thought you might like to know... :) I'm replacing all of the plum trees and the pear. You win :)

I'm really wanting to plant some bird-attracting trees/shrubs instead. My top picks are Allegheny Serviceberry to replace Plum #1. A Cornelian Cherry Dogwood to replace Plum #2. And an American Cranberrybush Viburnum to replace Plum #3. A birdfeeder on a post is replacing the pear. Any comments???

Thanks!
Jacci

Wow!
You get an "A" in my book!

Guy S.

Yeah!!!! Thanks for the encouragement :)