If I order any seedlings, Pam, I'll check out the Indian Mound Nursery - it's gotten rave reviews! Like I said, I don't understand why the pink and/or red-flowering dogwoods don't grow down here, but I must not be the only one who's had trouble with them, because Amy said that there was "finally" one for the South, which means Deep South. About 15 years ago when we made a trip through Tennessee, I was suprised to see sourwood growing right out in the open. Down here it's an understory tree only. The hurricane opened up the area around one of mine, and it's been dying back some each summer. Sourwood only blooms down here on the branches that get some sunlight, though, which is usually on the outer branches of trees at the edge of the woods. It's a very different tree than the ones I see in Tennessee. I don't understand this either, because it gets just as hot in TN in summer as it does here - the only thing that I can figure out is that maybe the sun's rays are a lot stronger here. I got the worst sunburn of my life in Acapulco in 1964 - it never occurred to me that the sun on an Acapulco beach would be any worse than the sun on the MS Gulf Coast - HA!! If you haven't planted any mag grands, you should do so. People post about their difficulties in growing them on this forum - for me, they come up everywhere and grow like weeds. There's one that's about ?25 tall off the northeast corner of my house that was a seedling just a few years ago. It's close to the hose, so I'd water it in dry spells in the summer, and it's grown even faster than normal. Of course, when they get big, their growth rate slows down. Also, they're THE best in hurricane winds! Carpinus caroliniana and acer floridanum have grown very fast for me, as has nyssa aquatica, which is sitting in a pool of water in a sunny area in the bottom of the hollow right now - it should be happy. Nyssa sylvatica grows pretty fast here, too - there's a pretty big one by my detached garage that was real small when we moved here in 1997. If I think of anything else, I'll add it later. Sherry

Since 'Wolf Eyes' is variegated, it often develops very good fall color, leaning towards the pink and red tones. But then IME most kousas develop better fall color than other dogwood species anyway. Wolf Eyes is a smaller, shrubby form, seldom exceeding 10', so that may play into your considerations as well. I tend not to favor the 'red'/pink flowering selections much and 'Satomi' is well down on my list :-) The color tends to be washed out and the bracts are small. And in my climate, even the white flowered forms tend to fade to a rosy pink, so you get the benefit of both effects. If I could select only one kousa it would be a variety of chinensis, probably 'Milky Way' - the bracts are enormous and plentiful, virtually obscuring all the foliage when in bloom, and it is a heavy fruit producer as well.

I planted scarlet fire the first year they came out. Now it’s about 8’ tall and wide, rather like a large bush then a tree, although selective pruning could easily alter that. Its blooms last year, and the year before that, were a solid medium pink, not the bilious hooker rouge of the advertisements, but that could change as the tree matures. I am in beautiful Mountain View Arkansas, zone 7A, and it‘s planted in native soil. It has been a robust grower. The milky way kousa dogwood I planted two springs ago is growing very fast, and has started its horizontal spread. That’s what I’m REALLY waiting for. As I type this in late March, the Korean Spice viburnum is in full bloom, and for the life of me I cannot figure why these aren’t way more popular. The scent out-performs lilacs, and it is a care free bush.

I just saw this thread and thought I'd put in my 2 cents worth in case anyone is interested in dogwoods in the Chicago area. Bestany, did you finally decide on a tree? It would be nice to know what you planted. My favorite ornamental tree is the dogwood. Mainly Cornus florida but also the Kousa's and the many hybrids. I'm in the west/southwest suburbs of Chicago and between my house and my parents house I have planted many (over 30, unfortunately not all have survived). First, addressing your inquiry regarding planting a 5" caliper dogwood. DON'T! This is way too big for a dogwood transplant in our area. I'm even surprised that you found one that big. This is even larger than your typical shade tree transplant! 1.5"-2.5" would be ideal. For me I am generally planting potted dogwoods that only have .25"-1" calipers. The reason for this is because I generally look for unusual cultivars that only come in pots that I can fit in my car when I travel. The Chicago area is not usually stocked with dogwoods due to us being at the northern zone of it's hardiness. That being said I have found a number of named varieties over the years at the big box stores, including your Cherokee Brave. HD and Lowe's will always carry an unnamed generic white dogwood every year in a 5 gallon container. So regarding cultivars...Cherokee Chief is not reliable (my experience) here in the Chicago area. It's just a well known old variety that people know the name of. Cherokee Brave is superior and more hardy. For white I would choose Cherokee Princess. I have a Cloud Nine but it does get quite a bit of mildew every year. I also have an unknown variety that was sold to me as a Cloud Nine but has a different tree habit and flower shape. This one has not failed to bloom in the perhaps 20 years since planting. Regarding the anthracnose disease you are direly warned about... you really don't need to be worried about that here in northern Illinois. There's not many people growing Cornus florida for there to be any spread. And we don't have any wild populations in the forest for any infections from that route. A mention about Kousa dogwoods for those interested. Generally these are more disease resistant (true) and are touted as being more cold tolerant (not necessarily). Here's some observations from a few years back. During our polar vortex of late January 2019 (remember that?!), we experienced temps down to -23F with wind chills in the -50F range. All of my Cornus florida came through fine. (Although many flower buds were affected). No dead branches. Cornus kousa on the other hand were either killed completely or had severe branch damage. I think the wind chill coupled with the cold had a huge part to play. We also lost many weeping Japanese Maples in areas northwest of the city. These are known to not like the desiccating winter winds. For those not tired of my ramblings yet, here are my thoughts about a few of the hybrids out there. I've had fairly good luck with the Rutger Stellar hybrids. These are a cross between our native dogwood and the Kousa dogwood. Very cold winters have limited their floral displays although the trees themselves are fine. These were produced to be anthracnose resistant due to the problems on the East coast. My one word of advice. Stay away from Stellar Pink. If the temperatures become warm when it's opening (which many times they are since they flower after the native dogwoods), the color will be a washed out "dirty" pink. This includes any of the straight Kousas like Satomi. Enough for me to cut down extremely healthy and robust trees. The new variety out of Rutgers that is not supposed to fade is Scarlet Fire. I'm testing that one out now and so far the color is beautiful. The other hybrid that needs a mention is Venus. This is a cross between the native west coast dogwood Cornus nuttalii, and the Kousa dogwwod. The flowers (or should I say bracts) are ginourmous, 5-6" across and a bright white. It's a showstopper. Mine is still small but did survive the polar vortex on the east side of the house. One last note about growing them here in the Chicago area. Normally dogwoods are considered understory trees so many people will plant them in the shade. In our area it's best to give them either full sun or at least half day sun. They will flower much better. The flower buds need a certain amount of maturity before going into winter. I've noticed the hotter and sunnier the summers are the earlier the buds mature. That's why I think they do better on the East coast where the summers are warmer and longer (just a thought). A small underdeveloped bud will usually not bloom the next year. Usually if they reach a quarter inch then they are fine. Except of course when we have an extremely cold winter which then even a mature bud may not bloom or just 2 of the 4 bracts may open. Well done for now. I will attempt to add some photos so you can see that dogwoods do grow here in the Chicago area.