“Yegorushka remembered that when the cherries were in blossom those white patches melted with the flowers into a sea of white; and that when the cherries were ripe the [cemetery's] white tombstones and crosses were dotted with splashes of red like bloodstains. Under the cherry trees in the cemetery Yegorushka’s father and granny, Zinaida Danilovna, lay sleeping day and night.” – from The Steppe by Anton Chekov

It’s little wonder that Chekhov was so enamored with cherry trees. After his family’s former lodger connived to buy their estate, their beloved cherry orchard was cut down.

Later in life, Chekhov spent holidays on a farm where there was a magnificent cherry orchard.

I can understand how feelings for cherry trees can run high. They add beauty to the garden all year round. In Autumn, their leaves colour spectacularly, light streams through their bare branches in Winter, they flower prettily in Spring and produce sweet succulent fruit in Summer. And they provide shade which, on days like this when the temperature’s set to climb into the low 30s, helps keep the garden a little cooler.

Early each Summer our lone cherry tree bears a negligible amount of fruit which we never get to eat. Before it even ripens, the cockatoos and rosellas take bites out of it and finding it a little too tart for their tastes, they nip off the stalks. Whether this is out of spite, or to protect us from the bitterness of the fruit, is open to speculation. Clusters of green cherries on the ground, missing rosella-sized bites, is a very sad sight indeed.

For several years after we moved here, the cherry tree in the front garden appeared as an outlandishly tall scare-crow. With only a few branches stretching skyward, it looked quite freakish.

When visitors started making rude comments and laughing about it, we guiltily concluded we’d been derelict in our cherry tree owner duties. So one year, after securing the loan of a tree-lopping tool from friends, we reduced it to a more reasonable height.

Since then we’ve pruned it, on and off, mostly in Winter when the tree is dormant. It’s due for another grooming session quite soon.

Lately I’ve read that you can start pruning cherry trees from late Autumn to early Spring.

The main objective is to prune the tree into a vase shape. This allows air to flow through the branches and facilitates later prunings and picking of fruit (should there be any left to pick).

If you need further information, I recommend the Gardening Australia Forums where Tino instructs a someone named lemon on how best to manage his or her cherry.