A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 cotton wood shock

Help! my neighbor ran over my cottonwood tree and broke it off at three feet high. It was about 12 feet tall and only about 2-3 inches in diameter-cant believe that i only planted it 2 springs ago. my question... can i prune it back to the nearest bud? or should i dig it up and start over. i can see the top bud. will my tree come back nicely or will it be obvious something is wrong? this tree is infront of my house or i wouldn't care what it looked like... i would appreciate any info. thanks

happy gardening

I don't know much about those trees, but it seems to me that if it grows up from whatever bud is left, then it will probably look a little awkward, since it will grow from the side, not the middle/top.
It may not look too bad though, so I'd say wait and see. If you don't like it, you can cut it down/pull it up.
Hope this helps!