Death Sentence

A couple years ago we got talked into doing a restorative pruning of the persimmon--the canopy was too broad, the fruit was too high. The realilty was that the guy really butchered that beautiful tree with the promise that it would come back with rich new growth. Fast forward and the poor stumpy thing has indeed put out some spindly shoots, but nothing looking like a viable fruit producing creature. Today my son came over and finished the job, easily cutting the skeleton into fireplace size pieces and removing the whole thing in about ten minutes. I feel horrible, like I sent someone to the gallows. We do have a new tree ready to go in, and the hope is that we can keep it low enough to be manageable this time. It will take a few years to bear any fruit. Another act of faith.