bboy, I want to share my Pagoda dogwood experience with you. I have a 5 ft tall of this tree. A friend of mine gave it to me last year. I dug it from her front yard. It was geographically transplanted around May 22. I put it in my backyard which gets sun from 9-10am until 5pm. About August of last year, it wasn't doing well. I saw tons of leaf loss. This year, I only have watered it once and the leaves are all still intact and healthy green. We also didn't get rain for more than 2 weeks. It's been quite hot here as well. It was only last Saturday that we got insane amount of rain. My 8 ft tall ninebark's maroon leaves though started to wilt. I was under the impression that it's drought tolerant. So yeah, I'm very happy with my Pagoda. I noticed though that it's a slow grower.

Oh, its definitely a Cornus. The only question is, which one? When they're quite small, I've found that many Cornus species all look a lot alike -- I've mistaken seedling Redtwig dogwood for C. florida. I guess you need to grow it out a while and see what it becomes.

FWIW, c. capitata is normally an evergreen dogwood and rather tender below zone 8. it has sometimes been "confused" by both taxonomists and nursery people as a form of c. kousa (a deciduous species) and with the usually evergreen but hardier c. kousa ssp. angustata (aka c. angustata OR c. elliptica). in any case, if you have a leggy tree, you MIGHT have the result of trees being planted too close together and the resulting competition for both space and light making the trees tall and sparse and/or not enough summer water causing drought stress (all these plants come from summer wet areas of china and japan). hope this helps. good luck.

I have a Fuchsia which I am hard-pressed to identify. I bought it as Fuchsia magellanica 'Alba' but the blossoms sure aren't white, nor is it 3' x 3'. It is currently about 10 feet tall and 12 or more feet wide. Unlike most Fuchsias, it has flourished in the full sun for the last 10 years. The primary trunks are about three inches in diameter. It has yet to ever die to the ground during the winters. In fact, in particularly warmish winters, it even keeps most of its foliage. I have been told that in recent years var. molinae has supplanted alba as the correct name, yet I have seen Fuchsias of this form and this name that definitely were white. So if you buy one identified as either var. molinae or var alba, just be prepared to transplant it when you see it stretching its branches or place it in a place where you don't care how big it gets and enjoy! Truly, it's lovely, one of my favorite "trees" in the yard. Cathy Jensen Olympia, WA