Question
Our fifty year old, huge, blossoming cherry, which blossomed in April/May now has many clumbs of dead leaves just hanging in it, and we noticed yesterday that almost ALL of the green leaves have many holes in them which we've never had before. There is also many patches of green moss on the trunk and branches. Is it beyond help?

Answer
Dear Linda, It sounds like your cherry tree has become afflicted with fire blight.  Fire blight is a bacterial disease affecting members of the apple family, which includes rose, pear, cherry, red tip photinia and other plants.  It is most common in pears but I have seen it affecting many plants the last few years.  The fire blight affects limbs or whole trees, quickly turning normal leaves into looking as though they had been burned.  Most plants don't recover.  The fact that there is moss on the trunk and branches is pretty bad unless you live in an area where almost everything has moss, Spanish moss, or lichen on it.  To prevent the disease you can spray with fire blight spray, a product made by Ferti-Lome.  To attempt to save it, I would remove the dead looking areas as best I could, remove and destroy any fallen foliage, DO NOT FERTILIZE (It makes the bacteria grow faster.), and spray with the fire blight spray as often as recommended on the package.  Each week remove any dead foliage and spray.  I would also try to remove the moss on the trunk and branches as much as possible.  Now if the branches are dead, they won't grow back, but you could try this and see if it will come back next year.  I don't know that you will have any luck, but I have heard from two people this summer who have had trees with fire blight that keep coming back, so it may be possible.  I wish you good luck, Melissa