Flowering dogwood... bit sickly or hard to grow?

Does anyone else have one of these? I bought it (on a whim I know!) from a garden centre about 3 years ago and planted it in my back garden - sunny bed. At first I thought it was quite pretty and unusual.

But it's never been happy.. It now has a few dead branches and it's leaves curl very quickly. It looks ill.

Do you think I maybe bought a sick plant or does it hate a lot of sun. I shall try and take a picture (when it stops bucketing with rain!) but the tree just doesn't seem very willing! I am wondering whether to cut my losses and bung a malus in or something else. Or can young trees be bought back from the edge! My garden is quite small so further along the bed I have a dwarf apple and a service berry which seem happy enough.

Thanks

Kate

 

A pic or two would be good Kate. Though I think we could be talking Cornus Kousa. A very beautiful dogwood, though it can be a bit finickey. Let`s see the damage though.

 

Thanks Dai

Need to get out there with the camera and have been meaning to all week! But I have been dealing with the torturous love life of my five year old and other matters! Darn kids always get in the way of my gardening! Will post pic too, I have a funny feeling it didn't flower much this year.

Kate

 

OK here goes - it's a spindly weak looking thing and it has a few dead branches. It's leaves also curl up which I thought was may be what it did but now I think the tree is doomed!







Thanks Kate

 

If your tree is a Cornus Kousa then we have 4 of them on our property. Three on the driveway side and one out back on the side. All the ones we have are NOT in direct sun, and all bloom crazy and drop seeds and make babies below that we have to give away or throw away. Looking at the leaves on your tree they look fried from the sun on the edges. However, it could be something down in the roots system that is not making it happy. Am I noticing some white powder on the stems in that one picture??? Give it a broad spectrum fungal spray, see what that does for it.

 

Kate, cut out all the dead stuff, then cut the rest back to one pair of leaves from the main stem. Finally, give it a good feed, Growmore will suffice for now. I can`t see any fungal problem, but you might check for aphids ( greeenfly, blackfly and the like ).

 

Thanks Dai and redstar

I will keep going with it for now then... I don't know much about tree care but I keep learning! I'll let you know how I fare.

Kate

 

A quick update. I found the label and my tree is a cornus florida.

I have cut all the dead bits out and fed it and kept it well watered over the dry days. It does look a wee bit happier. I have read on the net that it doesn't like intense heat and it's in my hottest bed hence why the leaves are shrivelling perhaps.

It's been in the ground for 2 years. Can you transplant young trees with any success? I was wondering if it didn't look any healthier whether I could move it to my front shadier bed? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Kate