My young Japanese dogwood died

I had always wanted a white dogwood, but the nearby nurseries seem to carry only pricey young trees. So, last year (2012), I was really thrilled to find a young Japanese dogwood sapling (cornus kousa or benthamidia kousa) in a supermarket at a very reasonable price. Joy oh joy! But within a year, my beloved sapling died. 

Why did it die? I took such care with it. Not trusting myself, I had asked J to put it in the ground for me. He did a good job. I watered and fed it regularly and it responded to my care. I was hopeful that this healthy sapling would, in a couple of years, grow to be a young tree. Come winter, the leaves turned brown and dropped, as expected. Soon spring arrived. The sapling had a difficult time putting out leaves. It was almost June when I saw the first few leaves. Soon, more leaves sprouted, but they were tiny and stayed that way. I had bad feelings. Mid-summer was unusually hot and dry. The leave burnt to a crisp and the skinny branches slowly died.


Perhaps, it was too young to be put in the ground. Maybe I should have planted it in an appropriate size pot for a year or two before putting in the ground. Perhaps it was planted in a wrong spot. I don't know Sigh.   

But, if I have a chance to buy another sapling, whether a Japanese dogwood or North American dogwood, I would do so. And keep it in a nice size pot for a while.  

Cornus kousa / kousa dogwood (Photo credit: dietmut)