They Get Bigger Than You Think
Woody plants are indeterminate growers, i..e., they do not stop growing, unless dormant, until they die. The garden center lables really, if ever, suggest as much, instead listing a size (height and often width), and using the term mature, that most people interpret as being a maximum. NOT! The specimen is in the photo is a spectacular (12 x 30) weeping cherry about fifty-years-old (notice my daughter in the lower left). Unfortunately, people often plant this species, as well as many other woody species, too close to a building or passage way making it impossible for the specimen to have the space to attain this older age magnificence.