I lost a beautiful Japanese maple the winter before last due to rough winter and would like to replace it with a tree that I can shape if possible. A pagoda dogwood was recommended.

Can I plant pagoda dogwood in direct, all day sunlight? The location is also 15 feet from a residential street which is salted lightly in the winter. Thanks for your advice.

Richard, you could plant it anywhere but I would not expect it to perform well in your conditions.

Are the berries of the Cornus alternifolia (pagoda dogwood) edible for humans? Can I plant the seeds to propagate the tree/shrub for wildlife forage? Thank you. jb

What growing conditions are needed? I've read acidic and moist soils are best. Neither of which I have.

Pagoda dogwood will do best in average to moist soil in part shade. We have it growing under spruce trees in our yard; the spruce only add a minimal amount of acidity to the soil. And the fruit isn't poisonous to humans, but not exactly edible either.

Last fall I cleared the last of the buckthorn from our back yard, which is composed of a mostly sandy northwest facing slope. We reached the end of a five year buckthorn removal project, which has been challenging to say the least. I was pleasantly surprised to encounter a rather healthy looking pagoda dogwood in a spot I could not remember planting one (although I put in six or so a few years back). It's beautiful so far this spring and I am hoping it thrives even more with the extra sunlight, and that it quickly fills in the hole left by the removed buckthorn.

I have two of these that volunteered in the woodsy understory of big oak trees in moist soil and I think this plant is underused. Glossy leaves, early June flowering, colored leaves and fruit in fall. Fills a big space with an airy form.

Similar to Mike from Bloomington - I found a little Pagoda growing in the middle of a bunch of Buckthorns on a north facing moderately wooded slope on our property. I too am hoping that it gets enough light to thrive as it is growing beneath the canopy of several older cottonwood and elm trees and also some young maples (amur?) and box elders that I'm contemplating removing.

I have one in my yard in the full blazing sun most of the day and it's doing great. Its 4 years old, has grown a ton and looks very healthy. Not sure why people recommend putting them in shadier spots. Great tree/shrub, would highly recommend it.

I planted about a 5' dogwood about a month ago and it's starting to change color and wilt a bit already. I water it 2 times a day, in about 3/4 sunlight. Today's date is august 19th. I'm wondering if this is the time for it to change color already, or if it's dying?

To Mike from Sauk Rapids- The most likely cause of your issue is overwatering and/or improper watering. 2 times a day is too much. They should not be changing color just yet. At the most you should water once a day for only about a week after planting then back it down to every other day for a week then back it down further to once or twice per week for the first season. In the 2nd and 3rd seasons I will water once every couple weeks, barring drought and super hot weather. After about 3 years my trees are on their own, with the exception of drought and high temps. The wilting is no doubt from overwatering. Also, never judge a tree in the first couple seasons, give it time. Could also just be transplant shock, which trees grow out of so don't panic.

I think mine might be dead. What would kill seemingly healthy tree that has bloomed for 15 years? I'm hoping it's just late this year. Today, I see no buds or leafs except one stalk at the base of the tree.

I planted a pagoda dogwood ~10 years go, in semi-shade, kept it well watered the first few seasons, and it took awhile but it finally grew into a beautiful architecturally interesting small tree. However, squirrels would harvest the berries and their weight caused significant breakage on the smaller branches, and then it developed golden canker, a fungal disease. I pruned out canker areas where possible, sterilizing tools between cuts, and tried regular applications of sulfur, Daconil, etc to thwart the fungus, but with no success in getting rid of the disease. Next, I cut down the original tree, removed all the brush from the property, and let some basal sprouts duke it out for dominance, but alas those also are showing golden canker symptoms. We are now looking for a small native tree to replace it. They are very beautiful and interesting large shrubs/small native trees and add a lot to the native woodland landscape, but this disease is a major problem.