Bird Cherry - have I planted the wrong tree?

[kitkatkat]

Hello, about 3 years ago I ordered 2 bird cherry trees from hedges direct. On their website it says the height is 1-4m. But I’ve just seen on
the woodland trust they can grow to 25m! My garden is not massive and so I’m slightly worried I’ve made a horrible mistake - does anyone have one of these in a regular sized suburban garden? They were about 1.5m when I planted them, now maybe 2.5m?

It will take 10 years to get to full size and may never get that big if it is not in a perfect spot. Leave it and see in a few years

Thanks that’s reassuring. We are on horrible soggy clay so definitely not a perfect spot!

Trees sold to be used in a garden will often be grafted to the roots of a smaller growing tree. This effectively limits their size.

If you look at your trees you will likely see a join near the base of the trunk where the two trees were grafted.

Also the website listing will likely mention the rootstock that was used

We have a bird Cherry, it was already here. The blasted thing suckers all over the place 🤬

yikes I will look out for suckers! I don’t think it has been grafted as it was quite cheap (I was distraction buying in lockdown) and the website is mainly selling hedging - I think I was supposed to plant in in a field! Oh well, I will just keep an eye on it.

All Prunus sucker. Bane of my life

We've had our cherry tree (Stella) for 12 years & have never found any suckers.
If you want to keep the size of the tree small (like we do) you need to prune it year. Ours would be huge if we let it, but we take out a lot of growth each year. It still flowers & fruits - though the birds get the cherries before we do!

Stella will be grafted hence no suckers.

Prunus padus not great for a small garden and was probably sold, as you suggested, for inclusion within a hedge that would be regularly trimmed.

I'd get a different cherry if I were you if you are looking for a small tree.