Flowering Dogwood (Cornus Florida)Ju

The flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) is a popular, small, deciduous ornamental tree native to Eastern North America, cherished for its spectacular spring bloom of showy white or pink bracts and vivid red fall foliage. Typically grows 15 to 30 feet tall with a similar width. 

A member of the Cornaceae family, 85 species of shrubs & small tree, including Cornelian Cherry & Japanese Laurel.

courtesy: Wildflower.org
Sometimes considered the most spectacular of the native, flowering trees, they can be single or multi-trunked tree with a spreading crown. A lovely, small, flowering tree with short trunk and crown of spreading or nearly horizontal branches. Graceful, horizontal-tiered branching; red fruits; and scarlet-red fall foliage are other landscape attributes. 

Acquired Nov.18 - Cost: $8.00

This little tree "came in the mail", directly from the breeder/grower & is probably 9-12 months old. If you're interested, you can see the process of unpacking, soaking & potting at Unpacking 2 New Trees .


This is what he looked like when I took him out of the packaging; you can enlarge this photo by "click"-ing on it (as with all photos on my blog)



This is what he looks like today, You can't see in this pic,  but the growing tip is forming & I'm pretty sure he's going to live, so, going forward, this Photo/History page will hopefully document his long & colorful life here on the patio. 








April 2026

5 months & waiting, the Dogwood still has not produced any foliage or shoots or show any life..'come's a time'..The breeder/grower is shipping a replacement & should be here before week's end.

April 11


Packaged in a cardboard tube, wrapped in plastic to conserve moisture, the replacement tree arrived today. Shipped on Monday, he has been in-transit for 6 days, so as soon as I unpacked him, put him in a jar of water to rehydrate..we'll let him soak overnight. 




April 12

Potted the Dogwood seedling/sapling (in the rain) as we are having classic "April showers" today..As you can see from the photo, he actually has 3-4 leaves, so I have some confidence that this young tree will live & develop.

I've lost 5 months "grow-time" waiting patiently for his predecessor, let's hope this little guy will put-on some foliage & catch-up with our early spring calendar, this year.

April 18

Not even a week, the Dogwood is growing & seems happy, potted in a 4" pot, for the present. I'm trying to get him as much suntime as I can, as he has some catching-up to do, getting a late start. 







June 11, 2026

Prox. 6 weeks or so & the Dogwood is growing, but I'm not sure he's very happy. He seems healthy..good color..new shoots opening, but I'm concerned about his "droopy" appearance. This might be "modus operandi" for this plant, but not having any experience with them, I have to conclude that Cornus Florida is not only finicky, but also "tender"..not a robust plants.

I have been told that they are as delicate as Japanese Maples & should be treated in much the same way. An 'understory' plant, he can't handle much direct sun & doesn't like wind.

In fact, I am going to grow him with the JP seedlings that are about the same age, or a little older. I will treat him going forward like a Japanese Maple & see if that makes a difference.









June 18, 2026


 It worked! A week of "hanging out" with 2 Japanese Maple seedlings & our Flowering Dogwood is perky, looking healthy & putting out new growth.

 Like the Acer's, he doesn't want too much exposure to direct sun, seems to get along better with partial sun..really likes "dappled shade" & shows it.





I expect to see some real growth now that we've figured out just how the Dogwood likes to be treated. The question now is how he will handle the heat, this summer..







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