Red Fox Katsura Tree Winter Buds - February 2020

Yesterday, I started with the first of the late-Winter tree bud photos.  I like to document these things throughout the year so I get an understanding of how things are going and what is struggling to return from dormancy (and which trees I shouldn't worry about because they're right on schedule).   I posted the current state of the buds on the vase-like Saucer Magnolia tree in our front yard.   Medium-sized, fuzzy and starting to crack open.  They're fun to look at right now.

One of the other front-yard trees that I haven't tracked the buds and their setting/swelling/opening series on in the diary here is the Red Fox Katsura.  Planted in the Fall of 2020, this is a tiny, whip-like tree that hasn't grown much at all and has very few limbs.  It suffered a bit from heat and drought stress last year, but it has - as of now - set some buds on the limbs that *do* exist.  Below you can see them.  To me...they kinda look like buckthorn tips - but on the middle of the branch.  They have that sort of deer-hoof thing going on, don't they?

I have great hopes for this tree this season - it will be the second FULL growing season in the ground and I'm hopeful that it fills out a bit.  I planted this as a hedge against the failing flowering pear tree planted a few feet away.  But...surprisingly...it seems that I *might* have been able to save that flowering pear tree.  Which...now presents a gardening and tree-placement dilemma.  The two trees are planted too close together.  Do I leave them and let nature sort it out?  Cut the flowering pear down?  Try to transplant this small Katsura tree?  Is this something I need to deal with in 2022?