An older gentelmen down the road has a 4' Pagoda in full sun, but as you mentioned you has a bunch of smaller shrubs and perrenials surrounding the tree...seems to be doing pretty good. How is your Satomi? I have a Wolf Eyes and I am debating whether to add a Satomi or Pagoda to my landscape. The Satomi seems more ornamental but Pagoda seems to tolerate more sun and has a nicer habit. The tree would be partially protected from winds, but will still get a decent amount of sun...but in time (5 years or so) will started to get some shade from an Oak I planted.

It seems to me that either something happened to the plant that broke the leader off and the nursery is just trying to salvage it, or, the guy's a mad man with a pair of pruners and needs to have them taken away from him. In either case, removing the longer stem would only intensify the problem (depending on the branch structure) and lead to a more deformed/bushier shrub-tree. I can't tell which stem is which in the second picture, but, depending on the branch structure at the base of the longest shoot, I'd probably choose it as the new leader and remove the other shoots (maybe not all at the same time). More specific advice is hard without a better visualization of the branch structure and without knowing more about the plant (like if it was just chopped/broken recently, etc). I wouldn't put much stock in anything the nursery guy has told you, because he is either lying (for profit), doesn't know what he's talking about, or maybe both.

Marty, On a subject, I had no chance to grow neither one of them....always want...never did. However, if I'd be debating between these two, my explorer's side would chose GS, pragmatic's side would definitely think A... and my collector's side would say BOTH :-)) Re: size of LG magnolia. If you'd keep it as a multistemed shrub, after 10 years you should expect it to be in a range of 12-15' or 15-20' if you want to grow it as a 1-2 trunked tree. Deers excluded:) Re: "George may have moved and sold his place so I'll have to count on my own for any babies..." Not so fast, not so fast:)) House is on a market....some plants already found new home at my son's property in Trumbull....some plants are not transplantable, but if you or anyone is interested to take cuttings from my hydrangea collection you are welcome. Now is the time! If you need anything in particular from my garden, don't hesitate to let me know and I'll see what could be done.

I grow both Cornus alternifolia (pagoda dogwood) and C. kousa and have a couple of smallish Heptacodium (7 sons). I love the all season appeal of the pagoda dogwood - it has panicles of small, creamy spring flowers (a bit like Queen Anne's lace) that turn into oodles of little summer fruit that slowly move from green through red to purple and end in deep purple, almost black. The birds love them, so the tree is really hopping in August, and the bright red berry stems remain for a bit after the fruit has been stripped. Mine in full sun had a peachy tone to the leaves in fall, a mix of pink, gold, and chartreuse that I really liked, though the ones in full shade aren't much for fall color. I also found the winter branch structure ornamental. They tend to grow as a multi-trunked tree IME, so if you want a single trunk you will have to do a bit of annual pruning. For me the only drawback is that the voles seem to love the roots of all dogwoods and have killed several including the largest of my Cornus alternifolia. The Heptacodium will grow in a much more shrubby fashion, and as others have said, has really just the late season flowers and bracts to recommend it. I don't find the peeling bark ornamental and the form needs quite a bit of work to make it tree shaped. Kousa dogwoods are lovely and don't seem quite as bothered by the voles in my garden, though they still have some vole issues. They aren't nearly as hardy as the Cornus alternifolia, given that my Kousa is still working on leafing out after having all its above the snow buds killed by last winter's temperatures that reached several degrees colder than -20F. It blooms for close to 6 weeks, starting with tiny chartreuse flowers that expand into large creamy blossoms over a couple weeks and then remain on the tree for quite a while. Some years the tree has a lot of red fruit that the squirrels eat, but not every year, and they seed around a fair amount. They also hang onto their leaves quite late, which is a mixed blessing; quite ornamental with orange to deep red leaves, but a problem if we get heavy snow in October which bends the still-leafy branches past full recovery to their original shape, though it hasn't broken any branches on my trees. I wouldn't recommend Kousa for a front yard in my zone since this year it looks quite patchy, but for your slightly warmer zone, it should be fine, since we had no bud damage at -17F. So as Mainegrower said, it's largely personal taste. The trees' overall shapes are different, they both have several seasons of interest, but not in the same way, and they feed different critters. If you are largely going for flower power, you want the Kousa as it blooms for about 3x as long, but I find the pagoda truly charming. Do you have room for both, with one near the property edge and one more central, or the two near opposite sides?