Note: I live in The Netherlands so maybe climatic conditions are not the same as you have.

I have a Cornus 'Venus' for some years in my garden. The blooms are indeed bigger than of any Cornus I know but the disadvantage is that these can be damaged by strong winds (last year the blooms were daged by hailstones). Another problem for me is that the habitus of 'Venus' is somewhat problematic. In my opinion this is caused by climatic conditions and the nutalli DNA of 'Venus'. I prune the plant in the summer to maintain a decent habitus. If I had to choose again I would opt for a reliable Cornus kousa cultivar. Cornus florida for the last couple of years gets powdery mildew here in midsummer.

Some pictures of Cornus 'Venus' from last year before the hailstones disfigured the blooms and leafs.

Thanks for the input. I am zone 7 in North Alabama and we have our fair Shar share of severe weather, tornados, etc. so will take that into consideration.

What problem is with the habit that causes powdery mildew?

with mature size pushing them to within a foot or two of the edge

==>> no plant predictably stops growing at some magical.. tag listed size ...

i like to use google images.. to see what the real potential of plants are .. presuming the cultivar is old enough to actually have a mature size .. see link below

ken

that first image might say it all -- if you verify its the plant you are talking about

Sorry I wasn't clear Ken, I meant the Azaleas, since I plan for them to grow outward. I will be running some irrigation to use as needed and just read about both Dogwoods and Azaleas having shallow roots. Should they be alright companions as far as water goes?

That is the one, brackets the size of your hand.

irrigation is a function of your base soil .. your summer heat .. night heat.. humidity ... and proper mulch .... etc ...

most shrubs .... IMHO .. do not need supplemental water forever ... and i would not run extensive irrigation to such ..

i have used temp irrigation when planting a line of trees ... say 50 of them ... but rarely on a few specimens clumped together ... i favor hand watering for such .. insert finger.. and water when needed ..

dont make your job more complicated/expensive than need be .. spending the money on mulch might be wiser?????

i have no clue how water works in bama.. in your soil. in your weather ...

ken

I don't see you speaking out against Azaleas planted with Dogwoods (one might guess they would grow together in their natural understory setting) so I will take that as a non nonconcur

You have to be a bit careful with 'Venus'. I had trouble with mine and I know someone else who did, too, i.e., they are dead. I seem to recall a thread here years ago saying people found them a bit fussy. In my case I moved it, carefully, but it could never re-establish. Struggled for 2 more summers. For a while I wondered if even that little bit of C. nutallii makes it tempremental (25%). Now I think the answer is more complex than that: the original plant is supposedly growing fine at Rutgers but was probably on its own roots. Dr. Orton (IIRC) was selective with is program's releases and wouldn't have named a weak plant. So what I think is more likely is:
1) some idiotic PNW wholesaler was actually grafting them on C. nutallii, which would be disastrous for plants on the east coast. (Because free C. nutallii seeds are locally available)
or
2) own root tissue-cultured plants are just slow to establish on the east coast because of the lack of any C. florida ancestry
3) for some reason any grafted Cornus is a bit more sensitive than it otherwise would be, particularly to transplantation
I cannot rule out:
4) it was just a fluke, and any plant moved during those hot summers (2010,2011,2012) would have struggled

I could never be sure whether mine was grafted or not. It was a few years old when I got it and sometimes there was something that looked like a graft union, sometimes not. As my big magnolia gets older, the graft union is getting harder to spot.

Actually I'm reviewing my posts here on gardenweb about that 'Venus'. Though I said it was doing fine last winter, I must have been lying! The thing is, for years since I moved in maybe 2012, it had leafed out normally but never really seemed to grow. It would later partly defoliate. It's like the roots couldn't regrow from the move. But it died shockingly and unexpectedly...I just can't remember exactly when. But more recently than I thought above. It's possible the massive late April 2014 northeaster-type rain storm killed it. 5 inches in my garden; it drowned a couple perennials that were struggling to return from the winter like some dry climate asteraeae. It might have finished off the 'Venus' too because it was in an area where drainage had been a problem.

So, just make sure it has good drainage if you decide to try one.

with that just about total blank canvas ... i dont understand.. why you are starting.. way the heck out there???? .. at the fence rails ...

do you have access to any arboretum.. say within an hour drive ... thats my best ticket to getting a good understanding of what will grow.. in your area ...

ken

Yeah, well down south I would try any of the kousa X florida hybrids, which IIRC was actually the parentage of most of the Rutgers hybrids.

Big digression but interesting:
The problem is even 25% C. nutallii might still cause problems much south of Northern New Jersey. For years even 'Eddie's White Wonder' was considered ungroweable on the east coast. (It is C. nutallii X C. florida) Well, imagine my surprise at seeing a labeled C. nutallii at Plant Fields Arboretum on Long Island! LI doesn't have particularly hot summers, but they are nowhere near as crisp and cool as those in the PNW. So it's a bit of a mystery. It could be that recent (past 25 years) PNW grown 'Eddie's White Wonder' trees were never doing well on the east coast because in fact they were PNW grafted onto C. nutallii; and the LI C. nutallii was either own-rooted or even better grafted onto C. kousa or C. florida by either a clever or lucky nurseryman. This narrative also nicely explains ALJ mentioning that "EWW" was once sold (mid-20th century) by a Tennessee nursery! They'd obviously have never been able to produce them by using C. nutallii rootstock; and grafting would have been a more common production means back then anyhow. So perhaps "EWW" and even 'Venus' would be better off grafted onto either C. florida, C. florida X C. kousa, or even just C.kousa. In other words, anything w/o C. nutallii. I've found with Rhodies that root rot sensitivity can be a dominant, not recessive trait. Even 1/16th R. wardii can spell doom for 'Capistrano' (Crapistrano according to the late, great Hank Schannen!) on the east coast south of Maine.

So without further testing of various cultivars, knowing exactly how they were produced - for me at least the jury is still out.

Sorry, I'm really more of a plant collector than a garden designer.
However a quick look at the page for them makes me think this is one of the more 'Asian' looking one, because of the tiered appearance:
http://agproducts.rutgers.edu/dogwood/ruthellen.html

Since its going to be in nearly full sun, I'd look for a cultivar that's known for tolerating the heat of the Deep South, like maybe C.florida "Weaver".

I spoke with the Nursery and ended up going with the Constellation. The Rutgers hybrids do well in full sun, but this one seemed to fit best where I wanted it and they've had good success with it as well. Thanks for everyone's input, even cranky Ken. :)