I got both Cornus alternifolia plants at Broken Arrow, 7 gallon containers. It is the straight species plant, not the more commonly sold golden or variegated leaved variety.
The most recent one, planted in spring 2015, is at the foot of the back hill in a protected spot in shade. It may get overtaken by the nearby sweetgum and maple, and there is a growing oak in front of it -- that may all hide this little tree eventually. We'll see. It's an understory forest tree that wants to be in the woods, not out in the open.
The first one did not survive -- here is the history:
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| May 7, 2011 First transplanted |
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| October 11, 2011 - looking like a shaggy Raggedy Ann |
You can always tell a dogwood because it is one of the few types of trees that have opposite leaves, but pagoda dogwood is different -- it has alternate leaves (hence "alternifolia" in the name).
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| April 25, 2012 |
It is impossible to photograph this little tree at this stage. It is slender and green, and it has a topknot of leaves that float way above the middle leaves and don't look like they are on the tree at all.
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| June 1, 2012 |
There were a couple blooms in mid May on this little tree in 2013. Here it is just leafing out.
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| May 2, 2013 You can start to see the horizontal branching it features. |
We had a very wet spring in 2013, and then in summer when it got very hot and much drier, the leaves on this pagoda dogwood turned yellow and started dropping.
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| July 24, 2013 |
I think it is okay, and just reacted to the stress of too much rain in spring followed by too much heat. It is still a young spindly tree. It seemed wobbly and had started to lean, so I staked it.
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| September 8, 2013 |
It did recover somewhat and had very nice red fall color, although it is such a twig it was hard to see it. But by 2014 this tree was gone -- it never leafed out.
The new one, planted at the foot of the back hill in early 2015, survived its first season well. It is shaded, protected, and in an out of the way place for viewing -- I have to walk out into the meadow and weave through a couple saplings to get to the spot where it is growing to see it.
I made a point to go out there and water it, especially when a really dry spell hit. I am hoping it will do well in this spot in the woods.
I have no pictures of it. I am hoping its strong architectural branch shape and its early spring flowers will make it stand out in time, even though it is hidden among the other trees.
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Here is a nice mature specimen at Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware:
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| from Mt. Cuba Center |
