The living dead

I had pretty much given up on the second walnut sapling. It lost all its leafs after I planted it, and didn't grow a single leaf or branch through the whole fall/winter, while the other tree sprouted new leafs and grew. I figured it was dead, but still let it stick out of the ground... don't know why.
BUT, surprise surprise!!! There seems to be life in the stick yet. I noticed a couple of reddish buds low low down on it, and one on one of its tiny branches. And this morning I saw a tiny leaf on the lowest bud.

It's real small but it's there

Zoom out. The other sapling is in the background.

Maybe the other sapling is doing so well because of the snake I buried under it.
I was stupid enough to plant them both so close together. I guess when/if they get real big the proximity will be a problem. They are only 2 meters apart. All the guides say to plant them 10 meters apart with nothing between, so I may have to transplant one of them once they are a bit stronger... I know that lots of vegetables and fruit trees around walnuts die, so in the end I have to probably make a choice.
Maybe move walnuts to my forest plot, and turn it into a real orchard.
For now though, they are too small and weak to move so I give them a couple of years more while I prepare the forest plots.
I am worried about another thing too though. I bought the saplings from the same place and bought two to ensure pollination. But if they are both same cultivar of walnut, don't their periods also happen in sync, meaning that there will not be any pollination? I may have to buy other cultivars to add to the orchard, once it starts to be built.