Wow, thank you all for your advice! I had a feeling about the idea of planting them close and twisting the trunks together, couldn't settle it in my mind, so I won't be doing that. But I did think it would be pretty - 2 colors from one tree. Thanks for the link, Ken Adrian, I'll check it out as soon as I post this. I've always added a handful or two of well rotted manure to whatever I'm planting, mixing it in well. Oh well, I should learn something new from this . . . And Gardenapprentice, none taken. I like the idea of a D.W. on each side but the yard is just too small. Maybe after I get it planted, I'll post some pics. We planted a white D.W. in the front yard, probably 18-19 years ago and it seems happy, no signs of disease so far, but it is in full sun. Brandon, thanks for your well thought out points, and I can see these would end up being a problem. I live in mid Alabama, our summers are hot, long and humid. Tornado3800, thanks, and I have seen grafts, and thought that maybe the 2 trunks would eventually grow into each other, but I don't want to risk losing either one so I've decided to plant just the Akatsuki. The place where I'll plant it is in full sun until shortly after 12 noon, then it's in shade until the next day. It's in a well drained part of the yard. I've met and still live next to some of the previous owners of this property, and our whole yard, before they built the house, was a big veggie garden, for many years, and the soil is still pretty good. So now I have a good plan and know what I need to do. Thanks you guys! I'm off to read that link, Ken! Nancy

This shows how narrow my lot is, and what kind of space I'm working with. The two crabapples are planted in a straight line. Are the branches of dogwoods too low to have so close to a porch? The trunk on the crabapple is tall enough that I can prune it to walk under the canopy, and it has no branches on the porch side. You might be barely able to distinguish it - in the pic it looks lighter and is smack in the center of the main tree. I wonder if I moved the crabapple and planted the dogwood, would the dogwood eventually be in the way of the porch? Thank you for any opinions! (but be kind if you're just going to call me an idiot for planting the second crabapple there - lol)

Wow--thank you everyone for the suggestions! I did call the Lake County nursery about their "Biblical series" after Sue mentioned the "Galilean." The man there was obviously knowledgable about the trees since he grows them (in zone 5) and these particular trees are hardy to zone 4. I think I'm going to go with a variety called "Prophet" (similar to Galilean, but with smaller bracts.) Samzan (as another had suggested has variated leaves--which I'm not as partial to.) It really is amazing to me how a "dogwood" can be so many things. Is it an American Dogwood, or a Japanese? If it's a Japanese, there are a hundred or so varieties to choose from to suit your needs. How big do you want the flowers to bloom? How big do you want the flowers to be? How disease resistant? So many factors to look at before choosing. I didn't realize going in that there are actually different cultivars of the kousa. No one at the local nurseries ever mentioned that---it was simply: Here's a kousa, and here's a florida. Which one do you prefer? Thanks again for sharing all of your knowledge here---I have learned so much from you all.

A dormant potted Kousa Dogwood was planted as an understory tree on the north side of my mature Scarlet oak tree in mid November of last year. It got morning and dappled mid-day shade with west sun beginning at about 3pm until sunset. It was planted in medium acidic soil which grows a healthy stand of bermuda/thinblade fescue mix grass. The tree never leafed out in the spring, the second week of June after seeing no sign of leaf break, I added compost to the bedding. At that time the roots I saw looked white and healthy. this convince me that the clay soil did not pool water in that area encough to stress the tree. a week later I did a scratch test and just under the bark half way up the tree was still green. On June 18 still no sign of budbreak, so I did another scratch test, which revealed the trunk had died. What a waste of money and effort watering and pampering. Never again will I plant such a hard to grow tree without having an expert on the specific tree to show me exactly where in my yard it needs planted and what other specific care the tree needs to best grow and flower. The tree that I planted to replace the dead dogwood is a Rose of Sharon 'blue satin' that is doing perfectly fine and booming nicely. After the Rose of Sharon goes dormant, I plan on pruning it to one trunk and keep it trained to grow like a small understory tree and not a shrub form that is more often seen in landscapes. I do not care if doing this will early on produce less flowers. The tree's canopy should once again fill out and produce an increasing multitude of summer flowers as the crown grows to proper form. There is a sun loving tree that is often allowed to take a bush form, which I like to train into a tree form. That is the chaste tree. The chaste tree is not fussy. It does well in moderate draining clay soil. It also does well in rocky alkaline soil. I also believe it would grow nicely as an understory tree. I have a chaste tree recently planted to provide morning shade for my east patio and house windows. I have pruned the 3 gallon purchased shrub to grow as a two trunked ornamental tree. The branches produce spikes with purple flowers that grow along the spikes. Their flower pattern looks similar to the butterfly Bush, but appear just a little more subtle. I also have one single trunked potted 3 foot chaste tree growing in a pot that is covered with mulch. It gets full morning and mid-day sun and shade from 6pm until sunset. That tree is blooming profusly and the crown is filling out nicely. Both butterflies and bummble bees freqently can be seen visiting my lovely Chaste tree blooming flower spikes. I got my chaste trees this spring on about June 18th from Colebrook Nursery located in west Tulsa. At the time, they had several more left to sell. When I purchased mine they accepted my request for them to work with me on pruning off the correct branches inorder for the shrub to grow as a tree. That remembered assitance helps me determine the subsequent pruning method needed to keep the tree form and to not allow it to revert to a bush form. The wood is easy to prune, and the tree's growth is vigorus, but not a burdon to keep trained.