A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Shrubs and Trees Dogwood Tree Not Blooming

We live in Connecticut (zone 6) and we moved into this house two years ago. There is a pink dogwood in the font yard. The first spring, it eeked out a few blooms. This spring it went right to leaves. It's about 16 feet high and crowded in by two other spring blooming trees (???) and larger trees in the woods behind it. It doesn’t look sick. The leaves are quit abundant and green. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to force it to bloom next spring?

Hi Penny,
It doesn't get a lot of sun but I hesitate to cut back too much on the trees on either side since they are lovely and have white blooms in the spring. Some day I will find out what the heck they are . I had heard that Holly Tone might help but I've never used it for anything other than first plantings. I wouldn't know how to use it for a mature tree.

Thanks, Penny. I'll try that.

Hello;

I have a kosia Dogwood and when I purchased it three
years ago I did some searching on the web about this tree.

It is normal for a dogwood not to bloom in any given year,
a lot has to do with the stress the tree received the
previous year, and sometimes the tree spends all it energy
to wood growth and leaves,If I were you I would "talk to a
nursery llike you were informed to do" and do a search on
care of dogwood trees.

Good luck with the tree, they are beautiful when they do
bloom.

also the comment about sun is correct, Dogwood require sun,
more sun than shade. The rule of thumb is blooms need sun and
leaves need shade for growth. The best of both worlds is
6-8 hrs sun and partshade and shade.

Donnie

Thank you, Donnie. I guess when this dogwood was planted the trees around it were small and they didn't think ahead. The poor dogwood is basically in the shade all day. Besides the two other flowering trees on either side, in front is a wheeping cherry tree and to the left is a huge maple tree. And then there is the woods behind it. I feel almost helpless to do anthing for it. I will talk to somebody at a local nursery to see is SOMETHING can be done.

I will post what they say.

Hello - I just joined the forum and happened across your question about the dogwood. They are an understory tree and require the shade of the larger trees around them to survive the hot summers. Are the trees around it deciduous or evergreen? If they're deciduous it should be getting plenty of sun in the early spring bloom cycle to flower. If the trees around it are evergreen they may be casting too much shade for it to flower. I'm guessing that it's not getting the food it needs and a good dose of fertilizer (check at a good garden center to find out what to use - it may be getting too close to the heat of summer to feed, so check that as well) will help immensely. These trees are native to forests and are fed by decomposing leaves. If you've been raking the leaves in the fall you're taking away it's food. Good luck! I'll be curious to hear what your garden center suggests.

Hi Rocky,
All the trees around it are deciduous and the trees on either side have no problem blooming in the spring. I plan to hit the nursery tomorrow morning. Stay tuned......film at 11.

Hi again:

claregirl go to this site http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/C900.htm
and read "Plant Location" rocky is correct about the shade but it says
the tree will not produce flowers as much.

Donnie

if it is in the lawn and you fertilize the lawn with a hi nitrogen fertilizer, it may be using that and producing leaves not flowers

RugbyHukr, I was thinking last night about that. When we moved in the previous owner did nothing to the lawn except cut it. It was in a VERY sorry state. My boyfriend took it in hand by liming and fertilizing it like crazy so that now it is gorgeous but I wonder if that has an adverse effect on the dogwood. Even though the other two trees on either side and the weeping cherry tree had no trouble blooming, I guess dogwoods are a little more temperamental. I will bring that up at the nursery too. I am also going to bring a few leaves with me since I have no clue what kind of dogwood it is and maybe that will help. Any other suggestions before I head out would be greatly appreciated.

Ok guys, here's the poop from Bob at Hollandia Nurseries http://www.connecticutgrown.com/index.cfm

Without actually looking at the dogwood he believes it could be the lawn lime my boyfriend it putting down to help the grass grow. He said dogwoods love acidic soil and the lime is just sweetening it. He suggested I put some Holly-tone down around the drip line - a good 20 handfuls. I asked if I should remove the grass and add mulch. He said that would look nice but really wouldn't have any effect. He also suggested I check the bark to make sure there were no holes or sawdust. That could be some kind of insect he named and I would have to spray but there weren't. He could not identify what kind of dogwood I had. We went around to all the dogwoods they sell and the leaves didn't match any of them. I'll have work on that separately.

Well, here's hoping this works or I will be back here next spring begging for help. Thanks to everybody for their input. It was a wonderful introduction to this board.