What is it doing at the base of the trunk? Any new leaders?

Not that I have noticed. Would that be a good or bad sign?

I think Bwoney must mean suckers :-) Leaders don't come from the base of the tree.....unless it is the original leader from a seedling.

And I think the question was asked because the top growth looks pretty bad (like dead) and growth from the base would indicate a still viable root system.

I'm not sure there is anything you can do now except to wait to see how it may leaf out this coming spring. And it is best to remove any additional soil you may have piled up over the root zone. It is very easy to smother the fine feeder roots that are located just below the soil surface (and that grew up into the original compost pile) and that can effectively kill the tree in time.

GardenGal is right about what I was thinking. I was wondering if the roots were trying to reboot the tree.

That is an odd height and form for a Kousa Dogwood. The picture is not good enough to see what is really going on.

Is this one tree with a dead looking top and fully leafed out lower branches we are seeing? Closeups of the actual tree in question's living and wounded parts are needed to really know what is going on here.

I figured it was probably a goner. I'll wait and see what happens. I didn't see any suckers. I was pretty tired from raking the vines away, though. I got from mail order on Arbor Day website about 11 or 12 years ago. I've never seen it bloom like a dogwood.

We didn't pile up the soil, but rather dumped it and spread it around over the roots. It was planted when I first moved in, which was the beginning of April. I didn't even know about the grapevines. It was just a sapling then. Had I known (or paid more attention), I would have sited it better.

On one hand, I would hate to lose an established, older tree. But truth be told, it would be better if it were taken down for all the other gardening in that corner.

we will have to see what buds out in spring.. and then probably have to hire a tree guy to remove the dead parts.. presuming the rest of the tree looks good ...

it might be worth an onsite inspection by a certified arborist to evaluate its future potential ... whether that cost is worthwhile would be up to you ... on some level.. it might be better to remove it and plant another ...

i have never seen a KD that big.. in my MI anyway ... maybe its a camera angle trick .... are we positive on the ID??? .. if you want it confirmed.. a pic of leaves and trunk would probably get it ...

z6 is about half the US.. how about a big city name ...

add your city name to this search: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=isa+certified+arborist&t=ffcm&ia=web

ken

I think you're right, Christopher and Ken. I've always suspected it wasn't a Kousa. I'm not really up on trees. I took some better pics. It has lot of suckers at the start of where the dead wood is, though. I couldn't see them with all the vines in the tree.

It had a huge compost pile on the sunny, front side of it for several years until this spring. Hopefully someone can identify this tree for me. I'm really curious now. I guess I was too busy with everything else to give it much thought. That and I've recently become interested in trees and shrubs.

Oh, I'm in St Louis, MO, Ken.

Here are pics of the ground around it now and the suckers.

Off the cuff, it looks like a green ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica.

tj

It is not a Cornus kousa. In fact, it is not even any kind of dogwood.

Since it is in such poor shape and really hasn't done anything for you since planting, I'd just get rid of it.

I think it might be a white ash.

I agree with you gardengal.