dogwood troubles

I have a lovely dogwood my sons gave me for my birthday almost 5 years ago. it has a nice shape but its flowers seem stunted they are not those billowing flowers I had hoped for . Whats wrong ? does anyone have insight as to what is happening here ? I am sure its getting enough sun and the leaves look fine although in the extreme heat they brown a bit , I don't think that is unusual . is it missing a nutrient ? does it have a bug or disease ? I can't figure it out any insight will be most appreciated

Well, since no one has commented, I will take a guess.
Your tree looks healthy. Dogwoods like dappled shade. They will grow in sun, but they need mulch out to the drip line where the limb tips end. They have shallow roots so need the mulch.

Since your tree looks pretty happy, I'm guessing it's the cultivar. Do you know the name of your specific cultivar? You could look up the tree and look at the pictures of the blooms.
Sometimes, you just get one that doesn't quite fit the bill.
Hybridizers keep trying to get different trees. If they grow some that isn't what they thought they would be, perhaps, they sell them at a box store with no named cultivar. Well, those are my thoughts. Right or wrong! :)

thanks for responding . its a florida , I know they come with a host of potential troubles but it just doesn't seem that sick . you are probably right it may need better mulch and supplemental water thanks
laura

Laura, I don't think your dogwood is sick. I think it's the cultivar. It "may" need more mulch and/or water, but I personally don't think that's it. It looks pretty healthy to me.

When I say "cultivar", this is what I mean:

Cornus florida 'Cherokee Chief'

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/82245/
https://www.hort.net/gallery/view/cor/corflcc

Cornus: that's the Genus
florida: that's the Species
Cherokee Chief: that's the Cultivar

There's lots of different cultivars. Cherokee Chief is one of them.

I don't know much about dogwood diseases, but the famous malady is dogwood anthracnose, which is really reaking havoc among dogwoods in the eastern half of the country. But the trees I've seen with it have foliage abnormalities, not just floral. I looked up some other disorders known to afflict dogwoods and they also all result in distorted foliage. Maybe the best bet is to send a sample to your agricultural extension service. Here's a link to the U Mass extension service. It tells you how you can send a sample to be tested in their lab:
https://ag.umass.edu/diagnostics
Good luck. Hope it turns into the glorious plant you envisioned.

Hello Laura,
Does it bloom like that every year, or was this the first year it had blooms that were stunted? If the blooms look like that every year, it could be, as birder17 suggested, the cultivar. I believe diseases usually cause dieback of the twigs, to begin with, but you don't mention seeing anything like that.

A particularly cold winter can stunt the flowers as well, since the tree holds its formed buds through the winter. I had a white Cornus florida that, after one particularly bad year, had flowers with only two "petals" . . . the outer two had frosted and failed to grow.

Let us know if you find a solution to this issue, and good luck!

First I fed it a proper amount of holly tone, 2nd mulched it with organic leaf compost and I have been watering it at least once a week with a soaker hose for an hr or two slowly . it already looks better and some of the stunted looking blooms actually spread out and looked better I am going to keep this up all year and see if it makes a difference with next years bloom production
thanks for the suggestions
I'll keep you posted
laura