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Japanese Dogwood trouble

jg237UpjWqSUBjg237UpjWqSUB Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hi, 

I have recently moved house and have a Japanese dogwood in the garden. I’ve been informed that it has the most beautiful flowers however we haven’t seen anything this year and it’s looking rather sorry for itself. Is anyone able to offer any advice on what to do with it? 

Posts

  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    It frankly looks parched...did you water it during the series of very dry spells we had? 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    It looks like a Cornus from the leaves, but if it is a Cornus kousa it looks like someone has hacked at it.  That will probably have taken off all the flowering wood for this year. If you leave it alone, it should flower next year. They need the space to spread out properly to look right when they flower. Some gits hacked the back off mine last year. It is now the wrong shape and only flowered on my side this year. I only take off dead wood usually.
  • jg237UpjWqSUBjg237UpjWqSUB Posts: 2
    fidgetbones said:
    It looks like a Cornus from the leaves, but if it is a Cornus kousa it looks like someone has hacked at it.  That will probably have taken off all the flowering wood for this year. If you leave it alone, it should flower next year. They need the space to spread out properly to look right when they flower. Some gits hacked the back off mine last year. It is now the wrong shape and only flowered on my side this year. I only take off dead wood usually.
    Thanks for your response. When do these trees usually flower? We’ve been in this house since January and we haven’t seen any flowers yet. Do they usually flower every year?
    Would you recommend cutting the surrounding trees back to give it more space to grow?
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    edited September 2020
    They flower in spring, and the bracts turn from white to pink in summer.  Good autumn colour, too.  They should flower every year if they're not pruned, but yours has clearly been hacked about a bit... and it has mildew, which is often a sign of insufficient water.  I'd give it a good soak if the ground is dry, and repeat that unless we have heavy rain this autumn.  The surrounding trees will be taking a lot of water from the ground too.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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