bboy, I want to share my Pagoda dogwood experience with you. I have a 5 ft tall of this tree. A friend of mine gave it to me last year. I dug it from her front yard. It was geographically transplanted around May 22. I put it in my backyard which gets sun from 9-10am until 5pm. About August of last year, it wasn't doing well. I saw tons of leaf loss. This year, I only have watered it once and the leaves are all still intact and healthy green. We also didn't get rain for more than 2 weeks. It's been quite hot here as well. It was only last Saturday that we got insane amount of rain. My 8 ft tall ninebark's maroon leaves though started to wilt. I was under the impression that it's drought tolerant. So yeah, I'm very happy with my Pagoda. I noticed though that it's a slow grower.

I had thought about terracing the slope but DH doesn't want to give up that much of the lawn - I convinced him to extend the bed out farther on the slope (where he dug the hole) but we're still negotiating how far out in front of the house (and existing plantings) to extend it. I don't know where would be a good place for the kousa - in front of (house side) the transformer? I can't find inexpensive Bloodgoods any more (Job Lot had them a month ago, DH said "For $60 I'd rather get it from a nursery with a warranty!" so I didn't buy one though they were closer to 5ft tall instead of advertised 3ft and looked healthy. Nursery where I got the cypress and boxwood 3ft bloodgood was $136. I did see some nice 4-5ft tall Japanese maples (Tamukeyama?) at a grocery store for $65. Would that be OK on the slope about 15-17ft away from the house?

Just to touch on something Nigel said above-and which gets repeated ad infinitum.......removing portions of a tree's crown , ie branches, due to root loss from being transplanted is a very bad idea. Briefly said, chemicals called auxins-which are a type of plant growth hormone-are produced in living branch tips. Auxins send a chemical signal to the roots to grow. Remove lots of branch tips and you are actually reducing the capability of the plant to form roots. So the exact opposite of that old wive's tale, which really need s to die. Whenever and wherever possible, leave a new transplant alone as far as pruning goes, excepting if there's an obvious gross deformity or a broken branch. In all other respects, leave the plant be when first planted. Leaves=food factories, as well as the item mentioned above. So no, don't routinely prune top portions of newly transplanted trees.

HUUUGGGEEE transplant .. in tree time.. 2 or 3 years to get over the stresses of transplant ... if not longer ... if your only problem is reduced flowers ... then you ought to be doing the happy dance .. and not complaining .. you mention no lack of leaves ... do remember to do the happy dance in tree time.. its a real slow dance ... grow the leaves.. which grow the roots.. and the flowers .. will flower.. sooner or later.. whenever the tree feels like producing such ... it is NOT hungry.. its stressed .. no fert.. ever ... ken