When I was around 14 years old my mother instructed me to plant a Dogwood tree in her backyard. I did as I was told and the tree died over the winter. Not sure why now it died other then it might be way to cold for the tree in the winter, more likely it did not get watered over the winter, all though my mother was much smarter then me at that time and she might have had that based covered.

I buried by mother in Saint Joseph, Mo. in Nov. of 2014 and I bought a Dogwood while I was there and brought it home. The tree spent the winter in the garage and leafed out in the spring. I left the tree alone for the rest of the year in 2015. The tree was about 6-7 feet tall at this time and most of the foliage was at the ends of the branches. I decided to chop the tree back and turn it into a Literati style Bonsai. I chopped of the largest trunk and then decided to bend the remaining trunk over and down towards the nursery pot it was growing in. I wired the tree with copper wire instead of aluminum for better holding power. I then used a pulley to slowly bring the trunk over and down and secured the pulley to the pot. The rest of the tree was wired and left alone until this spring when I removed the wire. There are some mild wire marks on the main trunk which should disappear in a few years. The trunk has remained in place. I did place the tree in a dark blue Chuck Iker pot this spring and the tree and has responded really well and is currently flowering. The flowering process was interesting to watch. The flower buds are produced during the previous years growing season and you can see the little flower buds on the end of the branches. The look like a little mushroom head. In the spring these buds start to open and a ruddy brown/reddish color. The buds open really slow to start with. My Dogwood is a: Cornus florida ‘Cherokee Chief’ which is suppose to have red flowers. The blower buds continued to open and the color did start to change to a light pink and then finally a red color. Right now the flowers have faded to a nice pink color and some are about the size of a half dollar coin. The tree has been blooming for at least 2 weeks now and it does not appear to be slowing down at all.

Plans for the tree this year include adding moss to the soil and letting it grow. This tree has really large leaves and will never be able to shown while in leaf. This tree does back bud really well and I was able to root prune with no ill effects to the tree. Last year the tree had back budded all over the bent section of the trunk which I removed at some point during the summer. I will continue to remove any new buds along the main trunk. The tree started to produce mature bark up and down the trunk and I suspect this will continue and should look nice in another 5 years or so.

Note: I was surprised to see that the tree was initially grown in a smart pot. I found parts of the smart pot fabric embedded around the trunk. This would explain the lack of large roots in the root ball. A very pleasant surprise.

The main goal for 2018 is to keep it alive until spring of 2019 and have it on display at the Denver Botanic Gardens visitor center while it is in bloom.

Cornus florida by UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

Cornus florida ‘Cherokee Chief’ by Missouri Botanical Gardens

‘Cherokee Chief’ Flowering Dogwood1 by Forest Service

Creating A Dogwood Bonsai by Bonsai South

Tree Gallery 05-16-2018: