Dogwood doing poorly: Suggestions?

This past winter on Long Island was a bit rough and many of our plants are just now getting back to "normal".

One specimen that seems to have been particularly hard hit is our dogwood. I don't know which particular variety it is, but I do know that it looks pretty shabby.

Several branches have not yet leafed out and give every appearance of being dead. On a couple of the branches that did leaf out, the leaves have since wilted and died off.

It is one of two trees left on the property that were planted by my late father-in-law since Hurricane Sandy took down our 35' Blue Spruce. Obviously, the wife is reluctant to turn it into wood chips.

I have close to zero knowledge about Dogwoods and would like to know if it is possible to save this tree.

I can take and post photos if it would help.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have a similar problem with my jujube.
I have two of them, our winter was harsh but it only got down to -3F and the plants are rated for -20F (zone 5).
They both took orever to leave out in mid May, last frost was April 16, so 1 month later and after they both leaved out of of them died.
After checking the graft union about 2 weeks ago it seems that it is growing back from the rootstock. It is so odd.


I also have some cornus mas and they are doing wonderful with fruits on both of them and my winter was worse than yours.

Hey Frank fellow Long Islander here!
Could you post some pictures of the tree?
Have all the leaves wilted and fallen off? If you could post some pictures of any leaves that do remain, and of the bark, maybe I can identify it.

Thomas Ziminski wrote:Hey Frank fellow Long Islander here!
Could you post some pictures of the tree?
Have all the leaves wilted and fallen off? If you could post some pictures of any leaves that do remain, and of the bark, maybe I can identify it.

Not all the leaves have fallen off. The tree leafed out very late compared to other dogwoods in the area. Some branches never did, some branches did but then the leaves wilted and died.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.


Branch that never leafed out:



Wilted leaves: These are now brown and dropping off.



Trunk Bark:



Branch bark with lichen:

Can't be 100% certain of the species but it's size and bark look like a flowering dogwood, which is native to North America and as per the USDA plants website has a cold tolerance of -25F, it never gets that cold around here so the cold isn't it.

Looking at this website, http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/plant_pests/trees/hgic2003.html, its possible that the dogwood borer could be the culprit

There are a few dogwoods around here and some of them have the branch flagging your seeing but they have been like that since hurricane sandy (they were flooded) and they come back every year since but they have a lot of dead branches and they don't leaf out fully.

Thanks for the assist and info.

I'm thinking now that the tree is just not getting what it needs and isn't recovering from this past winter. It is in full sun all day and probably doesn't get enough water since I only water the lawn per Paul's Lazy recommendations. It seemed like it came through Sandy okay (unlike it's neighbor) but is really struggling this year.

I think that I'll prune it back to get rid of the dead wood, give it some fertilizer & water, and see what happens. Fingers crossed