is it a recent planting.. this spring??? the whole point of this plant is.. wait for it.. its red twigs.. IN WINTER ... i really wouldnt spend much time worrying about what it looks like ... in summer ... and but for lack of water on a transplant.. if you figure out how to kill it.. let us know ... it is.. in my experience.. completely bulletproof.. i would not waste a lot of time worrying about it.. especially with your rain ... and after getting established.. EVER ... all that said.. hunting bugs is therapeutic.. nothing wrong with that ... just reread your facts.. no clue about the other dogwood ... ken

Steve, I was reading the section on red-spotted purples in my book The Butterflies of West Virginia and Their Caterpillars by Thomas J. Allen, and under the larval host plant section he listed in this order - black cherry/prunus serotina choke cherry/prunus virginiana serviceberry/amelanchier spp. big-toothed aspen/populus grandidentata quaking aspen/p. tremuloides silverleaf poplar/p. alba cottonwood/p. deltoides apple/pyrus malus (I thought all apples and crabapples were malus and pyrus was pears!) black oak/quercus velutina scrub oak/q. ilicifolia willow/salix spp. This is the first mention I've ever seen of RSPs using serviceberry or oaks. MissSherry

Drought stress, even though brief. Check the soil to see if moist, wet or dry.

From the research I've just been doing on my early blight, which is what I see on yours (not the dreaded late blight), you need to get ALL of the affected leaves off there, because the spores are easily transferred from leaf to leaf, and yes, continue spraying. Serenade is an organic spray that's often recommended, and Daconil is also very popular (I don't know if it's organic though). And when you pluck off all those leaves (very carefully, so as not to spread the spores even more), you should bag them up very carefully and tightly, or burn them. Don't compost them, because you'll just be incubating the spores into your compost, which will cause further trouble. Good luck! We're in NJ and were nailed by the same rainy weather you probably had, so it's been quite the uphill battle for us too.