my flamingo tree is dying! please help!

hi all Gclub989ew her and this is my 1st post... i dont know anything about gardening really but hope some1 out there can help with my dielema... i will try and explain as best i can.... i was bought a Flamingo Tree - Standard Salix integra Hakuro Nishiki, as a gift 6 years ago, when i recieved it it had a large fracture (almost the whole way thru the top part of the trunk where the branches start) which was wrapped in a sort of wax bandage.. i transfered to my garden where it flourished , 2 years later i carefully uprooted it as i was moving house, by which point the tree had healed albeit with a hollow hole going down into the trunk that i could fit my thumb up to the first knuckle, which seemed to have no visable effect on the trees health... so it was replanted, the 1st year after it was replanted i could see that the move had effected the tree as it was looking rather bald but i was told not to move it again as the shock could kill it! so i left it and the following year came back in all its pink glory, then last year i discovered ants lots of ants inside the small hollow in the trunk so each day i discouraged the ants by using water (did not want to use chemicals) eventually they got the message and left. now we have just had like the coldest winter ever with mountains of snow and i think my little fighter tree is giving up! this spring all of the branches have this bright green frilly fungus (i have never seen this on my tree before) and only one of the branches is growing leaves, the rest of the branches are dry and brittle, i think they are dead. there are also a few little buds popping out below the main branches and the hollow... is my tree dying? can it be saved? my little tree has been through so much i will be so sad if i cant make it better:( i will just add also that i have never cut it or give any special food or anything other than water when needed.
thankyou so much in anticipation sam

 

Hi Sam it sounds like a grafted plant.

I dont really think the ants were a problem.
There are shoots coming from lower down the stem which suggests the top grafted plant has died back, and the shoots will be the rootstock, which is not worth keeping.

 

hi pete, i dont really know what grafted plant means or rootstock shoots, but this sadly is not the news i was hoping for:(.... someone told me thismorning to chop off the whole top and new branches will grow back! sounds a bit drastic to me. so would you suggest i replace it? also can i get the same tree that is not grafted? will this live longer? thank you pete

 

I'm guessing its this plant.
http://www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/product_SALIX-integra-Hakuro-Nishiki_234_index.php

It appears to be a fairly expensive plant for a salix, which suggests its propagated by grafting, ie. the plant which you like is actually growing on the stem of another plant, which is similar but not of the same appearance.

If you cut below the point of the graft you will get shoots of the rootstock, (the plant it's grafted onto, which will probably be different in appearance).
Try it and see what happens, you have nothing to lose if the top is all dead, but I doubt you will get the pink shoots from lower down, more likely just green.

As to whether there are non grafted plants available, I dont know, you could look online.

 

yes, thats it.... oh it looks so lovely..:( wow so someone has gone to a lot of effort to make it, i didnt realise trees were grafted on to other trees.. very insightful. do you know if it is common for this type of tree to die or could it have been something i did or did not do? it might sound daft as it is only a plant but it is very centimental to me , my children have decorated the bare branches with cherry blossom to cheer me up lol. thank you for your help pete.

 

Some trees are normally propagated by grafting, particularly if their seed is not normally viable, or if seedlings do not grow 'true to type' (Japanese maples are a prime example) and it is also a way to get a larger tree much more quickly (the nurseries love that bit)
Your tree looks to be a beauty
Cutting off the top will not make it come back to life ... you will simply grow whatever the rootstock was
Buy yourself a new one, and this time do not move house so that you never have to dig it up again

 

I agree with Sam Whis4ey, I'm afraid, its probably best to buy a new one.

 

That's such a pity, I absolutely love flamingo trees, they're so pretty. I had five of them but one seemed to die off alot sooner than the other four in the autumn & it's showing no signs of new growth as yet, I have no idea what happened! You can get hold of them quite cheaply in homebase garden centres, they're very effective looking plants, two of mine are shaped like fireworks with the branches bursting out in all directions and the other two have large branches pointing upwards (they were planted when dormant in the winter so I'm looking forward to seeing them flushed with pink) I hope you get hold of another.