Help me heal my tree! Pics included.

[SallyOMalley]

We have a small tree at the bottom of our South facing garden. Using one of those plant-recognition apps, I think it's a Serviceberry. Hadn't heard of this before, but it fits: white blossom in spring with leaves turning red in autumn .

So here's the problem: I've noticed that this year a lot of the branches only have leaves towards the end of the branches and it's just not looking quite as lush as usual. There are a lot of suckers (is that that the term?!) at the bottom of the trunk which I now understand I need to remove. These leaves look much healthier than those on top.

The tree is located about 4ft from a hornbeam hedge which is doing very well, and next to a very old apple tree which doesn't have any problems either. We have a high water table and lots of rain can leave the bottom of our garden a little wet and slow to drain (clay soil).

I've attached a couple of pics . What are the patches on the bark? I haven't noticed them before but are they just natural markings?

Any thoughts on how to help our little tree or, indeed, whether I have a problem at all?! Thank you!

Oh, just had another Google which tells me that another name for Serviceberry is Amelanchier (you can see that I know very little!).

I'm no gardener but is that a type of fungus or mould on the tree trunk?

I really don't know. Just been to have a other look and the grey patches are within the bark rather than something on top. It seems to be more of a discolouration than a foreign body, iyswim!

The bark is normal for Amelanchier, but the waterlogging maybe the problem with the lack of leaves on branches. I'm not an expert but I think they like free-draining soil, so that would suggest it's not happy long term in clay. Could you work in some sand or bark chippings round it see if that helps? It also occurs to me that removing the suckers might improve the health of the crown, but as I say I'm not an expert!

That's lichen on the tree trunk. Not a problem.

The suckers aren't large enough to be affecting the health of the tree, but they will take over if you let them grown.They're also Amelanchier, another species.

Thanks for your comments. Good to know that there is nothing wrong with the bark, and I've removed the suckers. They were a good metre high .

Reading further, it seems that these trees are pretty hardy and can cope with both wet and parched ground. And hoping my little tree pulls round ...

Wood pigeons used to strip my amelanchier of all the tasty new buds they could reach so the leaves were at the end of branches, as yours. They do this to some shrubby honeysuckle too. I tied a few old CDs to the branches, not dangling but fixed so the pigeons got scared by their reflection as they came into land (that was the theory). It seems to have worked to a certain degree but we have so many * wood pigeons.

@SallyOMalley - the lichen on the trunk is certainly not a problem, in fact, lichens are usually indicators of clean air, they do not thrive in polluted air environments.

You say that your soil is clay - generally speaking, clay soils tend to be alkaline and, if I am correct, Amelanchiers prefer neutral to acid soils which may account for it appearing stressed and unhappy. Might be worth buying a soil testing kit to establish the pH of your soil. They are also not too tolerant of deep shade or soil which does not drain freely - as was suggested by onalongsabbatical, you could try digging in some sharp sand ( not soft sand) around the base to improve drainage and also some ericaceous compost to increase the acidity.

generally speaking, clay soils tend to be alkaline Depends where you are, surely? I was on alkaline clay in the SE, but acid clay in the Midlands and in the N.