skip to main content

New England Gardening Trees

Flowering dogwood not leafing out properly

last year

This C. florida bloomed beautifully a few weeks ago. Now it's only half leafed out!! Leaves look fine as close as I could see. Dessication? We did have some extreme windy episodes this spring. Insects? I would think I would see some partially eaten leaves. Frost? We did have some cold nights here and there but nothing below mid-30's. What do you think? My inclination is feed and cross fingers. I'm going to try to get a good pic of a stem tip.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
id give it another month or so ...

but i all reality.. anything that isnt budded out by now.. is probably dead.. and needs to be pruned out ..

with no insult to the root mass.. presumably... you might be surprised how fast it recovers .. in tree time of course.. a year or two ...

i suspect a hard frost or free at the wrong moment in time ... see any other evidence of such in your garden or the neighborhood???

if it does recover.. it will probably need some guidance in terms of pruning.. to make it into a nice shape ...

ken
bengz6westmd
last year
last modified: last year
Could be dogwood anthracnose, but that usually begins on lower branches. Top damage often indicates root damage of some sort. Mid-30 temps shouldn't have done that. Do you see any caterpillars? (dogwood sawfly larvae).
Related Discussions
Poor Dogwood Flowers
Q
Comments (3)
Winter injury. We had the coldest winter in about 15 years here in the Detroit area. I have various dogwoods. The only one that is opening any flowers at all is the seedling transplanted from the woodlands on my grandmother's farm a few miles away -- the northern genetics makes it a little more durable. All of the rest are nursery trees of various varieties, and it is virtually a 100% bud kill. Even on the native tree, the two outer bracts were killed or severely injured -- the two inner bracts are developing, so instead of a cross, I have a straight line. This happens after every hard winter here.
...See More
how to properly prune a purple leaf plum
Q
Comments (28)
The undesirability of purple leaved plums is, as with many other plants, dependent on where you are growing them. They are trouble free and healthy ornamentals in some climates. Here they provide some of the earliest spring blossom, long before the cherries and crab apples and then provide blemish free purple foliage throughout the summer. I've just found a seedling on my allotment from the towering specimen in a neighbouring garden. I was interested to find a babe with dark purple foliage as I suspected they would more likely be green. I'm deciding where to transplant it to.
...See More
Septoria leaf spot on dogwood
Q
Comments (1)
I was told it may have Septoria leaf spot. ==>> first you PROPERLY ID the problem.. THEN we figure out what to do .. please post a picture ken
...See More
Help: Flowering Dogwood Disease (w/ photos)
Q
Comments (5)
The trunk wound in the top photo appears to be old since you can see woundwood forming on the right margin. The borer likely is secondary. The wound appears to extend around a lot of the trunk circumference and is probably responsible for the stress symptoms in the foliage. With as much damage as has occurred, I think it would be hard to get this tree to recover fully and you would be better off replacing it.
...See More
ViburnumValley central KY Bluegrass z6
last year
This tree may benefit from some close scrutiny of the trunk, just below the leafless area. This is what borer damage could look like, with just enough functioning vascular system to push flowers as a last gasp before collapsing.

Need...more...information...
WendyB 5A/MA
Original Author
last year
Okay, I'll go take a close look at trunk. This is a neighbor's tree btw. Yesterday I took a closeup into the canopy and zoomed and cropped as best as my camera could manage. There are tiny leaves on some tips. I wonder if they are stunted or just slow.

As far as root damage, they did plant annuals at the base of the tree last year. Nothing yet this year. THe previous owners did that every year. (The new owner did it as an homage to the previous owner/friend. )

i was going to try to use my pole pruner to cut off a piece so I could scratch the bark, but it is not tall enough to get just a small end piece.
WendyB 5A/MA
Original Author
last year
I stood inside the canopy close to trunk. Trunk seems fine. A lot of lichens. In lower canopy I observed a lot of little dead twigs. Snapped off several. In upper canopy I saw some obvious deadwood branches and some not so dead and most I couldn't really see

The tree has probably never been pruned so these observations may be unrelated, t that's all I got.

Related Stories

GARDENING GUIDES Great Design Plant: Kousa Dogwood

By Becky Harris

This four-season landscape star offers lovely pink bracts, bumpy summer berries and more

NATIVE PLANTS Autumn Joy: How to Get 3 Months of Fall Flowers

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Enjoy blooms from September to November by mixing 6 asters native to different areas of the U.S.

GARDENING GUIDES 12 Gorgeous Flowers and Shrubs for Winter Gardens

By Lauren Dunec Hoang

These pick-me-up plants brighten gray days and add color, structure and fragrance when everything else is dormant

TRAVEL BY DESIGN Houzz TV: Take a Leaf-Peeping Road Trip in New England

By Rikki Snyder

Ride along with a Houzz contributing photographer to see gorgeous autumn eye candy from New York to New Hampshire

LANDSCAPE DESIGN 10 Flowering Trees Landscape Architects and Designers Love

By Lauren Dunec Hoang

These blooming beauties make lovely additions to gardens — bringing color, fragrance and pollinators

SPRING GARDENING 7 Spectacular and Practical Spring-Flowering Trees

Put on a beauteous show in the garden with a landscape tree awash in flowers — just do your homework first

SPRING GARDENING 8 Sunny Spring Flowers

Add a burst of yellow to the garden with forsythia, witch hazel, winter jasmine and more

GARDENING GUIDES Let Lilac Love Flower This Spring

By Alison Hodgson

Whatever you bestow or receive for Mother's Day, lilacs can be an unmatched gift in the garden in May

GARDENING GUIDES Let's Weed Out 4 Native Plant Myths

By Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Plant wisely for a garden that supports pollinators and requires less work

GARDENING GUIDES Plant Native Annual Flowers for a Garden Surprise Every Year

By Curtis Adams

These 15 well-adapted native annuals can add spontaneity to gardens around the country

Sponsored

More Discussions

David Austin roses in Massachusetts

46

Planting under deer eaten rhododendrons

2

Show Us Your Landscape and Gardens - A Photo Thread April 2024

12

Swamp Milkweed Seeds or cuttings

1

Wind Chimes - Do earbuds work to cancel their high-pitched chimes?

14