i wouldnt expect such an over generalization/presumption from you rouge ...

as i am sure you know ... micro climates rule ... especially in my z5 MI ... there can be very protected pockets where plants surprise you with survival ...

all that said.. looks gorgeous at the link ...

ken

I'm done with dogwood trees. Had 4 of them: one "Venus", one "Satomi", one "Milky Way" and another unknown, but looks very much like "Milky Way". And I thought they were all hardy in my area (zone 5a) ... until the winter of 2013-2014 when the first two died... and then came the winter of 2014-2015 when the remaining two died. Well, those were not c. controversa, but c. kousa, but they have the same hardiness info listed for them.

Interestingly, c.mas was absolutely unaffected by -30C temperatures. The only survivor from the dogwood trees family.

Considering, those are expensive trees which are often sold with no guarantee, I'd think twice before planting any of them - unless I get them dirt cheap (which is not going to happen).

i wouldnt expect such an over generalization/presumption from you rouge

my learned esteemed GW member ken_a..... you need to parse my sentences more carefully. I see I wrote the phrase...so it can be hardy to zone 5. I think the implication being that with protection or in a micro climate it can survive. If it was hardier I might have said it is hardy to z5.

(The gardening columnist that did write about it in her blog and has it on her property is a relatively local gardener).

Thanks gg for your experiences. I so love seeing a dogwood in a shady location as it just seems to glow. (Could you post a picture of your c.mas?)

When visiting woodyoak's property I am always impressed with her Wolf Eyes dogwood.

('woody', is it looking any better now that we are in mid July?)

rouge - Wolf Eyes is still looking somewhat weak - some rain soon would be nice for it! Milky Way was the star here this year. Now that its flowers are finished, I'm hoping this will be the year it also produces a nice display of fruit - fingers crossed.....

you need to parse my sentences more carefully. I see I wrote the phrase...so it can be hardy to zone 5.

==>>> i clearly understood what you said.. and what you meant ...

but i was making it much clearer to those on a lesser plain ... who might just jump at them based on what they thought you said ...

i was pulling your leg ... and expected you to understand that.. if not.. and i offended.. my apologies ...

my experience with the foo foo dogwoods ... is more in line with green go above ... i like to sum up what he said.. by saying.. i had two z4 winters in a row... in my z5 MI ... wiped out a lot of things that had been z5 bulletproof for decades ...

peace out .... ken

No apologies needed of course ken_a.

T2d, 'woodys' garden is outstanding. I know she would love to show you.

I lost a mature Japanese red maple at the corner of my garage last year. This looks like it could be the perfect replacement.

Excellent. I wonder how difficult it will be for you to source it near you. Please keep us in the loop!

(Any idea why you lost that established maple?)

rouge - thanks re the comment on the garden (it's difficult to see your garden through someone else's eyes so it's hard to be sure whether it looks the way you think it does! Plus, when someone else is viewing it, you tend to notice all the weeds and things that need moving/dividing/deadheading etc. and think 'OMG what a mess this is....!') We hope to get up your way sometime this summer - check your e-mail....

Thyme - I would indeed enjoy showing you around the garden. If you're ever planning to be on this side of the border, do get in touch.... :-)

We're getting a nice rain at the moment - that should make the Wolf Eyes and other things happy!

Hello, I hope to have a kousa dogwood in my shady backyard but your comments are a bit concerning! I'm in Cdn zone 6b. Past two winters have been brutal.

Green Go, what is c.mas?

The maple died because the previous owners were idiots, plain and simple. I bought my house during a brutal drought that basically lasted all summer and the tree hadn't been watered once during that period.

I called in a arborist and he told me the tree was definitely extremely stressed. He did what he could. But it was too late and the tree has been slowly dying over the past 15 years. It finally had to be taken out last year.

miracx - I doubt that you'd have much of a problem with a C. kousa. With that zone you must be either near near one of the Great Lakes - or in BC. In which case the kousa should easily survive the winter - mine and my next-door-neighbour's have never had any problems, even from the past two brutal winters. C. mas is an interesting dogwood that is quite different in that its flowers are small and forsythia-yellow in quite early spring. The neighbour behind us has one just behind the fence at the back of our property. It's the first dogwood to bloom.

miracx, Cornus mas, also called cornelian dogwood, is a very large shrub that has very early yellow flowers (earlier than forsythia) and edible red fruit. Some kinds have been selected for fruit and some for the blossoms. It can be pruned to tree form, but I've only ever seen them grown in shrub form.

We got to at least -22 and perhaps colder last winter, and my 10 year old Cornus kousa lost all its buds above the snow line. It is slowly leafing out again, but I don't think that I know what branches have survived until next year. I hope that we don't have another winter that cold.