Miriah - how do you mean "dying"? Is it that the leaves are turning brown or crisping up? The one thing that I noticed with both of mine (Cornus sericea & Cornus alba ÂElegantissimaÂ) is that if they don't get enough water and are exposed to alot of dry winds, the leaves will shred and curl and do all sorts of things - particularly on the side where the prevailing winds come from (in my case, the west side as well). I did notice that a bunch of branches on one of mine have finally set flower buds this past week. This is exciting for me since I bought it as a 12" bareroot in box 3 years ago and this is its first bloom. This is sortof late for bloom, but heck, better late than never! This same one is also shooting up alot of babies at the base and those will eventually be the nice red canes this winter. I think yours will be okay and may just be suffering a little drought and leaf stress.

I don't know your soil....nor if the tree is at the top of a hill or the bottom etc. In my yard, that would not be too much....but if you have hard clay and water is not draining well....it could be too much. Take a trowel and dig a hole about 14 inches away from the trunk.....just at the edge of the hole they dig when they planted it. Dig just s little hole and see what the wetness is.....then do the same about 2 1/2 feet away from the trunk and see. That ought to tell you if you have a mucky mess, or dry powder.....or if the tree is just poky or in bad condition when you got it. That's why most reliable places offer a one year guarantee. I might call the place where you bought it.....if it needs replacing, better this fall than next May! Linda C

Hi Shartlansberg, Welcome.....I have a thought and a question. You don't say where you are (when you have a moment add that info to your user/screen name as others above have) I think it is drought. Very dry here in MA and I see signs all over of plant stress. All my small greentwig dogwoods are yellow and its only mid August. If you water it won't make any diference to the leaves. They will probably not push out new ones at this date. However, if you plants are at the point of death because of thirst do water them from now going into winter so their root system can be robust enough. Second, You may not have noticed but this is a 10 year old "thread". That is really old; pre-cambian times in computer social websites time. May I ask how you found this thread.? Did you just go to Houzz/ or Gardenweb or Google and do a search about something like "what's up with my rtdogwood?" And this link was one of your choices? then, I assume, you tagged your question onto the thread. You didn't do anything wrong. However, it is better to post your own new question. Some people won't add a comment to a "stale" dated post. Your question may be slightly different and would get a different answer. And it wll much easier for you to track answers to a question under your own name and date rather than someone else's. I'm sure you'll get good answers here because NE gardeners are a diverse and knowledgable group who grow all kinds of plants: annuals, perennials, groundcovers, trees, shrubs etc. . But there's also a 'shrubs' forum, a 'trees forum'.....etc.where 'experts' hang out. Thanks for your help....and thanks for putting in your zone and geographical location next to your name. Marie

It's been in its current location since we moved here 15 years ago. Up until yesterday it was surrounded by grass. No other trees/shrubs seem to be showing signs of problems. This is the first time in 15 years I've really paid special attention to it (it hasn't had problems until the last couple years- this year it didn't even flower). The steps I've taken so far are pretty generic and I don't think it would hurt the tree at all. It just might not be what it needs Thanks for the replies!