Sounds to me as if it all traces back to lack of DEEP watering both initially as well as after it was moved.

Remove all those bottom shoots and water it DEEPLY when mother nature does not. Not walking by with a hose but leaving it on a slow trickle for a period of time.

How long? Until the water has penetrated to full root depth.

How do you know? You dig down and find out, at least until you know your soil.

If it was mine I would keep it healthy and growing for a couple of seasons without pruning it for two very good reasons- 1) dogwoods don't always respond well to that and 2) the huge nub left in photo #1 tells me someone needs to read up on pruning.

But IMO it all goes back to lack of watering during both of the 'establishment' stages. There is hope- it appears to be trying its best, just keep it better watered.

it might be easier to start over ...

i agree.. i also suspect it struggled due to lack of proper deep watering for the year or two..after EACH transplant ...

if it was a named variety.. you might be growing the understock now.. those low bub breaks are the usual indication that the tree above is very sickly ... but the problem is.. the root stock plant might not be worthwhile as a middle of the lawn specimen ...

ken

Thank you all so much.

I agree about the pruning...I snapped off those branches as they were completely dry and I never got around to prune properly for a decent look.

I will do this today.

Otherwise, we would really rather not start over if there is any chance for this tree to recover.

So I should remove the bottom shoots, right?

Intuitively, I thought I should because you never see any trees with branches so low on the trunk. But if I cut them off, won't they grow back or should that encourage branching off further up the trunk?

I know quite a bit about plants and shrubs but not much about trees.

I will water more - but wonder if there is anything else I need to do.

Thank you again!

Cut all of the bottom shoots, yes.

If they grow back cut them off again. Try to get to them earlier- when they are first nubs they are easy to rub off.

Other than that mulch and water deeply when it needs it, time will do the rest.

I'm in Maryland and it's too hot for dogwoods to be in full sun. No matter how much water they get, they'll wilt in hot sunny weather. I would imagine it's worse in GA. If you start over, find something that likes the sun. Not an understory tree. Like maybe a Japanese maple.

Japanese maples ARE understory trees!! They also are not at their best in full sun, especially in hot summer climates.

Then what would work well in the middle of a lawn that is in full sun most day?

With a somewhat similar size.........:

redbud

crape myrtle

crabapple

fringe tree

Japanese lilac

tupelo

saucer magnolia

amelanchier/serviceberry

hawthorn

Where I live, Japanese maples do fine in full sun. Much better than dogwoods.

Our next door neighbors' dogwoods do super fine but maybe the sun doesn't quite shine on their lawn as much as it does on ours. They seem to get more shade just a few steps nearby due to some trees around.

Even here in the Pacific Northwest, which doesn't have hot summers compared to 95% of the US, dogwood trees struggle in full sun.