Our native western dogwood was always one of my sentimental favorites
because one of the very first trees I learned to recognize as a toddler
(that & monkey-puzzles which were seemingly designed by god to attract the
eyes of wee children). The only reason I don't have a western dogwood or
two is I won't plant anything so certain to get a disease. And what a
tragic disease. The newly developed eastern dogwoods that fight it off
with complete success won't benifit the western species, though there have
been some indications among British Columbia wild populations that the
western dogwood may also make a comeback someday.

-paghat the ratgirl


Do you mean Cornus nuttallii for the western dogwood? I bought one
from a UK nursery about 7 years ago and planted it in my Scottish
garden (as a nostalgic remembrance of time spent as a UK citizen
living for a while in the US). Every year it gets some brown areas on
the leaves soon after they emerge, and some leaves dry out and get
shed, but newer leaves emerge during the summer that survive until
normal leaf drop in the autumn (fall). The tree has put on sturdy
growth each year (now at about 7 ft high) and has produced a vey
small number of white bracts in the last couple of years, so I am
still wondering if it is healthy, or is dealing in its own way with a
possible anthracnose infection from its source supplier. I also have a
much smaller Cornus florida (about 4 ft high) that was bought more
recently (about 4 years ago) that shows somewhat similar behaviour,
although no bracts yet, but even so there is no sign of impending doom
at the moment. This was the colourful tree (white or pink bracts) in
spring that was prevalent in Knoxville, TN where I lived for a while
in the 70s. I am curious to know if the anthracnose infection is
likely to be prevalent in trees sold in the UK. I must admit that I
have not seen much evidence of these species being sold in nurseries
here in more recent years, after the time when I got my trees, but
mine are not showing signs of serious distress at the present time.

Geoff (Dundee, Scotland)