Kouza Dogwood

I am a resident of NY and planted a Kouza Dogwood (white flowers) in May 2005. At that time the flowers were blooming. Since the autumn of 2005 and present, the tree has not sprouted any green leaves or buds.

The tree looks dead since there is nothing blooming. Is there anything I can do to save this tree? The garden center where I bought the tree had said a Kouza can take 2-3 years to truly come alive. Is this true of a Kouza?

 

I would be a little more patient - it is still too early in the northeast for a kousa to start leafing out. (If I remember correctly, mine did not wake up until early May last year.) The statement about it taking 2-3 years probably refers to flowering. Mine did not bloom the first two years after planting, but it has a substantial number of flower buds on it now, so I'm optimistic about this year. (If I understand properly, the fat, onion-shaped buds are flower buds, and the smaller, arrow-head shaped ones are leaf buds.)

 

Thank you so much.

I feel better that there is still hope!

shamrock

 

Not doing much yet even here in USDA 8. Different kinds of trees bud out at different times during spring. Some are much later than others.

 

My Kouza dogwood has absolute no greenery on it...it looks like a tree in the winter..no life to it...Should I be looking for anything on the tree to see if it does have life..

 

Shamrock- Continue to be patient in Mass. and New Hampshire I have seen dogwoods wait until mid-late May, especially if you have had a cool spring, to leaf out or do anything else. Many nurseries grow their stock in greenhouses which will produce earlier foliage and flowering for that season. So the nurserys plants look great but arent necessarily in time with what is going on in your garden.
If you cannot wait for the buds to start popping to find out what is going on, make a small scratch in the bark if the layer just underneath the bark is green your tree is fine if it is a cinnamon brown this could be a sign of dieback. Personally, I like to scratch first 18-24 from the tip of a branch, if the branches are green the trunk should be fine and you do not need to scratch further.

PS Should be spelled Kousa Dogwood, but I am completely spelling obsessed.

 

Misspellings sometimes affect search results, so getting it right is worthwhile for that reason alone.