I have a kousa 'Samaritan' that's very young & hasn't flowered yet. But, I've noticed around Mystic that the kousas are not blooming as heavily as the past two seasons. In 2005 & 2006, the dogwoods here were loaded with blooms...almost covering any green of the leaves. This year, the trees around are, maybe being generous, about a quarter covered with flowers. That's now 3 northeast locations reporting in with less than stellar kousa performances. Tricia

Read all the comments about purchase of a dogwood. Very interesting. I live in Ontario, west of Toronto, and want to plant a dogwood in my woodland garden. Native dogwood grow on my property. The area is rocky, and well drained so I know that I will need to amend the soil for moisture retention. My question is has anyone had luck with a Wolf Eye Dogwood, Cornus Kousa Chinensis"wolf eye' It was recommended to me because it has varigate leaves, larger white flowers, and fall color. When I visit the nursery I get mixed info. Some say it has been a poor performer....others just don't have it. They are few and far between. As I have been clearing trees in this forest by my house, to have a woodland garden, I dont want a large tree. This one is only suppose to grow 15' or so. Our zone is 4-5. I live in a protected spot, treed, in a valley. All info, much appreciated. Lee

Probably, you got a mislabeled one. If it is important to you, and if you still have the receipt, and if you have a photo showing the flower color (the last may or may not be necessary), then I would go back to whoever sold it to you, and complain. They SHOULD give you a pink one or refund most or all of your money. If you don't really care, and it's growing well, enjoy it, and let the matter go. You might want to give the seller a heads up that there is a problem, just for their information, but that's up to you. To my knowledge, soil acidity or lack thereof has no effect on dogwood bloom color - it's only certain hydrangeas that change color according to pH.

If you want a good flowering dogwood that's about the same shape and size as the Florida version, get a Cornus alternifolia. It's native to here (you in London, me in Woodstock) and we have one growing naturally and nicely in deep shade in our woods. Even with the deep shade it gets lots of pannicles of flowers so in as much sun as you have, it would likely produce a grand amount of flowers. It 'is' technically an understory shrub so you may wish to position for a bit less length of sun than your current one but I can highly recommend this native shrub from experience and it is now showing up regularly in regular garden nurseries as part of their stock. I would suggest calling ahead to see if specific nurseries have it so you don't waste gasoline but in London I don't think you'll have any trouble finding one. I'm pretty sure the Nursery up in Hyde Park will have one but I don't know the name of the Nursery...??? Hyde Park Nursery??? lol. Barb/knottyceltic southern Ontario, CANADA