I hope you will find this to be a helpful and fairly complete set of planting instructions: Planting a Tree or Shrub

What a great article! Several things I didn't know about planting trees, I plan to save this for future reference - thank you Brandon! I am not sure where to place the dogwood - I have seen some out in the middle of a partly shaded yard and seen some close to larger trees in relative shade. Here in east Texas, summers can be pretty brutal - I feel it needs to be in at least bright shade. Do dogwoods like it dry, wet or moderate? Any other hints or tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

Judith

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/detail.php?pid=124

In Texas I would think some shade is best. You are probably at the southern hottest end of its zone. East Texas gets pretty decent rainfall if Inrecall so as long as you can water during establishment then any potential drought you should be fine. No yearly water restrictions in east Texas, right?

What kind of soil do you have? They prefer acidic loams, but will grow in clay if well drained and not too alkaline. They like to stay moist, but not soggy, so need to consider irrigation options when placing it. Ours requires more supplemental water than any other tree on our blackland prairie lot. Tree root zone also gets most of our coffee grounds and occasional applications of greensand or similar treatments to compensate for the slightly alkaline clay and tap (irrigation) water. They struggle in full sun in our hot part of 8a, so may be better to plant as an understory or at least with some afternoon shade if possible.

Edit: Just saw east TX location, so soil is probably good. We're 100 miles or so west of their native range. They will grow and "flower" in nearly full shade, but stay small. Would probably go for some morning sun and afternoon shade if that were a choice in placing it.

There are many beautiful blooming dogwoods in my area so I know they like it here. I plan to put it as an understory tree with morning sun and shaded by 2 big oaks from the afternoon sun. Going to check the actual sun all during the day tomorrow to make sure this is the right location. The best description of my soil is "post oak". Its just kind of a beige crumbly dirt which can get hard when it is too dry. Right now, with the abundance of rain, its very soft. I have several water spigots nearby, so watering it will be no problem. I have heard so many stories about how hard they are to grow but at $18 and such a beautiful tree, I have to try. I tried with a very young tree bought from the Stephen F. Austin horticultural dept. spring sale - it lived and even thrived as an understory until the summer of 2011 when we had 105 every day for 3 straight months. That heat was enough to kill lots of things - but I want to try again. Have also heard its best to get native trees out of the woods, but I never think about marking a tree in the spring, then going back for it in the fall. Also heard it was better to start with a smaller tree.......I did that, and the summer of 2011 killed it.

I have seen glorious pink dogwoods out in the middle of a partly shaded yard so I am hesitant to plant it too close to the oaks. But sure don't want it out in the scalding sun. I have several options for the tree in my large front yard........I have an area that stays wet longer [is a little bit lower elevation] than other areas - not standing in water, but just tending toward more moisture. The spot isn't soggy - it just stays damp longer than the other part of the yard. Would this be better for the tree or should it be in the drier section of the yard?

Do they like heavily mulched root area? Without piling it up around the trunk, as per the article Brandon sent, would mulch be helpful for it?

I am a fairly accomplished gardener and would really like to make a success of this lovely tree.........Thanks for the help! I am more accomplished at roses and daylilies than trees, but want to learn all I can.

Judith

Yes Judith, it sounds like you know what you're doing. to address just one of your questions, I'm still firmly in the camp that believes a properly-applied organic mulch is beneficial across a huge range of plants. Only when you get into such items-and we're not here-as Agastache, some Lavandulas, etc. does a need arise to avoid woodchips in favor of stone chips, etc. For your dogwood, yes, by all means-bark or woodchips mulch.

+oM

I raise horses and have lots of old, composted manure. Wondering if a light mulch of that under the shredded pine bark mulch would help? I plant all kinds of trees, like oaks, black gums, etc. and have good luck. Dogwoods have such a finicky reputation, and the few I have planted I have lost, that I am wanting to try to cover all the bases to get this lovely tree a good start.

Judith

You'll get varying opinions about that idea here. We collectively don't believe it is helpful to amend for example, backfill soil when planting trees and shrubs. Two reasons: First, this can cause weird drainage issues, the native soil being so different from the highly-amended backfill stuff, and second, it does the plant no good to have a small but very rich area close by when in fact, if that plant is to successfully colonize the area with its roots-which it will have to do to survive and thrive-it will need to send roots far beyond that region. Your proposal falls in the middle ground. And the other thing is, I don't know how well-rotted this material is. I surely would not use anything that was still heating up via rapid decomposition. But very old, well-broken down, I'd guess would be OK. That would in effect be mulching with compost-with shredded bark on top of that. Not such a bad thing, I would think. Do avoid piling anything up against the trunks of the plants.

+oM

the planting.. will cause severe stress .. i simply do NOT fertilize stressed plants ... and NEVER amend the hole itself ...

if you want to throw some of your manure on it next year.. all the power to ya ... but if its in a fert'd lawn ... it wont need more ...

i like to plant dormant trees... 6 to 8 weeks before they leaf out.. to get the roots pumping ... before the tree has to support all those leaves ...

but i dont know how that all works out in TX ... and note that someone above ... suggests shading the plant ... which would be an alternative to the 6 to 8 weeks ...

FYI .... brandon wrote the article.. he linked to ...

ken

Never amend, always mulch.

I bought a tree that had not leafed out at all....but has buds. With the excellent advice I got here......going to dig a good hole, am I correct in more wide than deep? Put native soil in a large pan and use a shovel to get the chunks out, not amending with anything. I have been told by a master gardener to dig the hole square instead of round to prevent the roots from girdling. Tease the roots to spread out, set tree as deep as where roots meet the trunk, then pack soil back in, watering a bit as I put soil in. Keep soil away from trunk of tree, make a well with shredded bark mulch, water well. Brandon's article said don't prune the tree, water as needed. Anything else? I am going to take my time with digging the hole, get it just right - really want success with this tree. Should I mix in any bone meal at bottom of hole and cover with dirt before I plant the tree?

Judith

No, you're good. I never heard of that square hole idea, although it just may make sense. What I do know of and preach myself is to make the whole wider at its top than at its bottom-a sort of flared-out top. This to help the roots "break out" of the hole and move on, in their naturally shallow fashion, to rummage around new areas. I don't think it would help anything to provide additional phosphate (via bonemeal) just in that tiny little space at the bottom of the hole. Once again, we need our tree transplants to get out and about. The conditions in their intitial spot is of little consequence ultimately.

+oM

Roots don't circle around inside planting hole walls unless these walls are as hard as a rock.

Or a pot.

Trees growing on rock formations find their way into crevices and contribute their bit to the gradual breaking apart of rocks. Why would hard dirt outside planting holes make roots circle around?

It IS better to provide loosened soil for tender new roots coming from cut root ends to grow into. All roots grow in the air between soil particles instead of these particles themselves; plants grow among the dirt more than they grow in it. That is why it is possible for plants to grow on tree branches, mossy rocks and other moist surfaces that aren't terra firma - the dirt itself is not what they are living in even when situated in the ground.

And that's not even taking mycorrhizae into account! Most plant species "learned" long ago that letting fungi do a lot of the work was a more efficient arrangement than trying to develop all that tiny absorptive root mass themselves. What was considered a natural curiosity circa 1980 has now been shown to be near-universal.

+oM

I am hesitant to plant it too close to the oaks.

Ours thrives in the almost full shade of oaks where it is placed only 13 ft away from a Shumard and within 30 ft of a live oak to its south. It catches a short bit of direct sun very early in the morning. Only significant consequence has been that after two decades it is still only 8 or 9 ft tall; though suppose our clay soil could be another factor in its small stature. This size is great for us, but could be a disappointment if expecting more typical growth they get with more light.

Heat won't kill it directly; ours sailed through the same triple digit run you saw in 2011. Here, insufficient moisture, sun scald, and rot are most common killers. You shouldn't have to worry about soil pH since you're in its native range and probably east of the worst CRR (cotton root rot) problems. Sun scald is the first problem listed in the Texas A&M Plant Disease Handbook entry for Dogwoods. The leaves are pretty good at indicating when it needs water, but we still often get browning on the distal margins of the leaves by September because we've let it get too dry at some point - it needs fairly frequent deep waterings during the hottest stretches.

Remember seeing a caution somewhere about planting in root zones of removed trees due to potential of other rot (mushroom root rot?) problems, so something else to consider if you have options. Others may know more - ours went into the root zone of a recently deceased hackberry, so I'd probably still chance it without other good locations.

Yes, in wooded regions stumps of other trees may harbor honey fungus that then moves out and kills subsequent plantings. Sometimes many years after these planting were undertaken, so that specimens of some size and age are lost. British gardening books have warned about this for many years.

From a design standpoint since trees are accent points in the landscape, that read visually as individual entities these appear to have what has been called a "sphere of influence" that extends well beyond the actual physical branch spread of the tree. Planting a small tree within the visual domain of a larger one can produce a David and Goliath effect. An exception is where larger trees on a property are in a grove of closely spaced individuals of similar size and age. In this case the grove is seen as a single feature, within which it may seem naturalistic to have a scattering of understory trees.