Hi Anne,

I have dogwood in full sun and it does fine, BUT it is the native dogwood which is known as Rough-leaved Dogwood (Cornus drummondii), and I don't think that is the kind of dogwood you're referring to. It is not nearly as ornamental as the type of dogwood commonly planted as an understory tree.

For regular Dogwood, (Cornus florida), Steve Dobbs, in his book OKLAHOMA GARDENING GUIDE, recommends part shade to full shade and suggests planting them as understory trees, or on the east or northeast side of a building to try to give them protection from the wind and afternoon sun. He also emphasizes that they need well-drained soil and are destined to fail in heavy, poorly drained soil.

If you want to try one, here are a few of the named cultivars thar Steve Dobbs mentioned in his book: 'Ozark Spring', released by Kansas State. He describes it as a dogwood selection that is more tolerant of exposed locations in the prairie states, but notes that even it does not take full, hot sun. He lists 'Cherokee Chief' as a selection with a reddish-pink flower, 'Cherokee Brave', which has a more burgundy-red flower, and 'Purple Glory' which has both a purplish tint to its foliage and ruby-colored flowers.

Hope this info helps.

Dawn

Hmmmm, that's what I was afraid of. The one I'm interested in is the cornus florida variety. The site in question is exposed. It is on the east side of the house and doesn't get any shade until late evening. There are no other trees around it. We did have an oak that had to be taken out because it was growing into the power lines. So I have been on the hunt for a tree to put there. It really does need something in that spot for shade. The current crab has cedar apple rust and is not doing good. Had it last year too. I sprayed this year and it still has it. It also has not grown at all since I planted it last year. So I'm looking yet again. Of course with the power lines nearby the tree has to be small. I have 2 native redbuds. One is in a part shade/sun area and the other is in full sun. Similar to the site in question. Do you know anything about the Whitebuds? Are they really that much like the redbuds? Both of my redbuds seem to be happy in the locations. I would ideally like a tree with flowers. This spot is right near the road so I would like something that stands out but is also along the lines of being a native tree. Hmmm this is harder then I expected it to be. I'm not impressed with the Bradford pears so those are out. I'm looking at the fake cherry trees but they seem to get pretty big. Plus some of them I really don't like the looks of. Do you have any suggestions for me? Thanks for responding. :)

A dormant potted Kousa Dogwood was planted as an understory tree on the north side of my mature Scarlet oak tree in mid November of last year. It got morning and dappled mid-day shade with west sun beginning at about 3pm until sunset. It was planted in medium acidic soil which grows a healthy stand of bermuda/thinblade fescue mix grass.

The tree never leafed out in the spring, the second week of June after seeing no sign of leaf break, I added compost to the bedding. At that time the roots I saw looked white and healthy. this convince me that the clay soil did not pool water in that area encough to stress the tree. a week later I did a scratch test and just under the bark half way up the tree was still green.

On June 18 still no sign of budbreak, so I did another scratch test, which revealed the trunk had died.

What a waste of money and effort watering and pampering. Never again will I plant such a hard to grow tree without having an expert on the specific tree to show me exactly where in my yard it needs planted and what other specific care the tree needs to best grow and flower.

The tree that I planted to replace the dead dogwood is a Rose of Sharon 'blue satin' that is doing perfectly fine and booming nicely.

After the Rose of Sharon goes dormant, I plan on pruning it to one trunk and keep it trained to grow like a small understory tree and not a shrub form that is more often seen in landscapes. I do not care if doing this will early on produce less flowers. The tree's canopy should once again fill out and produce an increasing multitude of summer flowers as the crown grows to proper form.

There is a sun loving tree that is often allowed to take a bush form, which I like to train into a tree form. That is the chaste tree.

The chaste tree is not fussy. It does well in moderate draining clay soil. It also does well in rocky alkaline soil. I also believe it would grow nicely as an understory tree.

I have a chaste tree recently planted to provide morning shade for my east patio and house windows. I have pruned the 3 gallon purchased shrub to grow as a two trunked ornamental tree. The branches produce spikes with purple flowers that grow along the spikes. Their flower pattern looks similar to the butterfly Bush, but appear just a little more subtle.

I also have one single trunked potted 3 foot chaste tree growing in a pot that is covered with mulch. It gets full morning and mid-day sun and shade from 6pm until sunset. That tree is blooming profusly and the crown is filling out nicely.

Both butterflies and bummble bees freqently can be seen visiting my lovely Chaste tree blooming flower spikes.

I got my chaste trees this spring on about June 18th from Colebrook Nursery located in west Tulsa. At the time, they had several more left to sell. When I purchased mine they accepted my request for them to work with me on pruning off the correct branches inorder for the shrub to grow as a tree. That remembered assitance helps me determine the subsequent pruning method needed to keep the tree form and to not allow it to revert to a bush form. The wood is easy to prune, and the tree's growth is vigorus, but not a burdon to keep trained.

As is mentioned above, they can do fine. My neighbor in Tahlequah has one in full sun, but it is also a native. Very pretty tree, when flowering especially.

Moni

I have lots of native redbuds, but have only seen the white-flowered form in nurseries, where they weren't in bloom, and in photographs, where they look lovely. I'd like to have one.

My chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) is 5 years old and growing beautifully in my yucky old red-clay soil. I have it pruned into a tree-form. I love, love, love the blue flowers. I want to plant a pink-flowered one if I can find one. It wouldn't get tall enough to be a problem with the power lines either.

Another pretty flowering tree that I have and enjoy is the desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) which is neither a willow nor a desert-type plant, although it doesn't like too much moisture. It first blooms in May or June of each year, and then blooms sporadically until frost.

I just planted a Mimosa tree (Albizzia julibrissin) this year so I'll have its pink powder-puff type flowers for the hummers. Lots of people around me have them, and they are much larger here than they were in Fort Worth, so I think that borers may be less of a problem for them here, at least in southern Oklahoma.

Mexican plum is a native that flowers each spring and it is tough....grows wild in parts of our acreage and many have lived a long time and gotten quite large in spite of our dry summers.

Mexican buckeye is a new one for me. I planted it this year from a one-gallon pot so it is still tiny. I have seen it in bloom at the Heard Natural Wildlife Museum in McKinney, Texas, and it is gorgeous. I haven't had mine long enough to know how it will handle our winters, but it is said to grow as far north as El Paso, so I think it will be OK here.

Some of the taller-growing crape myrtles might work well for you, but they are more like shrubs than trees. I did have one in Fort Worth that grew to be about 15 to 18 feet tall. I didn't prune that one down to one trunk--it had several and was gorgeous. I had a smaller one in the back year that I pruned to one trunk, and maintained in a tre-form. It stayed in the 12 to 15 foot range.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Willow

Thank you for warning me against the Kousa dogwood. I was about to buy one. Will the chaste tree and crape myrtle grow under the catalpa trees. That area get sun half a day and is a bit dry because of the roots.

I have been trying to put up a screen in that area and want something that will work.