To ask stranger if I can dig up their tree in the garden?

I would ask them, but in all honesty I think you’ll find that it’s so well established now that it’s impossible to move without severely damaging it. I really feel for you.

Tbh moving a mature tree may well kill it could you take some cuttings?

I would think it would be nigh on impossible to move an established cherry tree. The roots will be very widespread now and it would damage them to move it. Either ask for a cutting or collect some pips when it has cherries on to plant and grow a new tree from those.

This.

OP you really need a specialist to move a mature tree, and they can't guarantee it's survival, even if (a very very big IF) the new owners agreed to it.

Ask for cuttings or pips to cultivate, or buy the same variety as a shrub.

Turn up.

Look pathetic and ask. In a quivering voice with your bottom lip protruding.

They have a choice of two answers.

If they say no ask for a cutting.

If they say no, return under cover of night.

I feel for you OP and I am sorry for you loss. I agree with PP’s the tree is unlikely to survive the shock of being moved. That’s even if you can get the current occupants of the house to agree. I have a big garden it’s full of plants,shrubs and trees that all mean a lot to me. Many were given to me by friends and relatives that have since passed way. We are likely to have to downsize soon and we will just not have space to accommodate them all. Plus it would ruin the garden for any future owners. It is upsetting but I am trying to plan a new much smaller garden maybe with some cuttings of smaller plants. In your position I would buy a really lovely tree and plant that as a memorial to your parents. I am too old to wait for a tree cutting to grow😂so that probably influences my view.

I have the same.
With me it’s rosemary and a sour dough starter. The sour dough starter comes from during the potato famine in Ireland. I no idea how many generations back the rosemary is but it started its day in Guernsey.

They are lovely to have OP.

I would get several of my most green-fingered friends on standby, and send a note explaining what the tree means to you and if you could take some cuttings to try to grow a new tree from it - and leave your contact details for if they ever decide to remove the tree, as you'd really like first refusal to take it away or even just to have some of the wood to make a memento out of.

You'd be absolutely gutted if you took the whole tree and it didn't survive transplantation. x

You can ask but
a mature tree may very well not survive the move and be an extremely 3D pensive endeavour
a lovely big tree in a garden is a huge delight to some so be prepared for a No

Like other MNs I would suggest asking for a few cuttings.

I'm sorry, but even if the tree was guaranteed to survive the move (which it's not) I think it's really inappropriate to knock on a strangers' door to ask to take their tree - no matter what the backstory.

However I do think you could ask to take a cutting from it or similar.

Ask the owners to let you cut a couple of branches. They won't work as 'cuttings' per se, but you could then either graft them yourself (said not to be tricky, but we have never made it work!) or ask a commercial nursery such as Keepers if they will graft them for you. Search 'tree grafting services'.

A tree that size won't be happy AT ALL if you move it.

If it helps, OP - I have a rose growing in my garden that is a cutting from a rose in my aunt's garden, that is a cutting from a rose that used to grow in my gran's garden that was a cutting grown from a rose that used to grow in her mum's garden.

2/4 of those roses are almost certainly long gone - but they remain with me via a cutting.

As others have said I would ask if you could take a cutting and/or buy another tree in memoriam to your parents. Even if they agree to let you transplant the tree which I think is unlikely. I don't think the tree would survive the move

Find the variety and buy a new one! You’re proposing a big project moving a mature tree, you’ll almost certainly kill it. Take a picture to any garden centre and they’ll be able to help identify it.

If you can breed a second (and even third, fourth, fifth!) cherry tree out of the original then I think it’s a beautiful outcome OP.

Save your money to pay a professional gardener to do the tree graft / cutting. And for a lovely framed photograph or painting.

Trees are so antropomorphic and feel closer to humans than any other plant. That’s why we hug them I guess. Cherry trees especially- I was reading how in Japanese art the focus of paintings and photography is always on the humans - how they are reacting to the blossom, - rather than the blossom itself. And how the fact cherry blossom stays only for one week of the year is symbolic of the beauty of our human mortality, burn brightly while on earth. Lots to nourish the soul of any tree lover!

Come back and let us know how you get on.

The jewellery is a lovely idea

Op, what about hiring a photographer to take 4 photos during each season so you can create a collage? I wouldn't be against that if it was asked of me.

It's a lovely idea, but the idea of taking a cutting and photos is more practical. Cherry trees have a moderate water demand from the soil. If the soils is at all clayey, the established tree/soil will be in some kind of equilibrium. Removing the tree could well cause the soil to heave and fracture the foundations of the bungalow (the heave will not necessarily be where the tree is removed from). Again, is the tree goes into soil with any clay in it, it is likely to cause that soil to shrink, which may well impact the foundations of near by buildings.

I think asking if you could take a cutting or two and explaining the reason would be more likely to be amenable to the new owner than asking to dig up the entire tree.

Like others have suggested, the tree may not do well at being transplanted at this stage (albeit I'm no expert). Could you ask for a cutting / some of the cherries from it to plant? (Whichever is the best way to cultivate a cherry tree). I completely and utterly understand the sentiment OP, I imagine I would feel very much the same way, and accordingly if someone asked for a cutting from my tree / seeds to plant for this reason I would be delighted to help.

I'm very sorry for your loss OP and I hope that you are able to find a way to resolve this that gives you happy memories.

I would ask for a cutting instead. I don't believe you can move a well established tree.

As lots of PPs have said, ask for cuttings rather than the whole tree. They might say yes, but it'd be unlikely to survive the move.

Ask to take cuttings x

If it fruits then perhaps you can plant some of the stones? If they’ll let you have some? That’s from the same tree, easier to manage and there’s the same connection. Sorry if someone has already suggested this.