Help with flowering dogwood and quince

We have a flowering dogwood that's been in the yard longer than we own our house (over 13 years). It's about 15 ft high and blooms in the color called (I believe) Cherokee Pink. It has some box and some flowering quince (same color) grouped around it. When we first moved in, the tree and quince would bloom profusely, quite a pretty site. For the past years, the tree has hardly bloomed, although it leafs very well. We've been trimming the dead branches, we see no pests or animal damage. We water it during dry summers. What is its problem? Could it be that the nutrients are robbed by the huge honey locust tree with roots everywhere (a township tree, and one we can't convince them to rid us of, it's a pest)? Should we fertilize it, and if so with what and when? I really want to see this tree happy and in bloom again.

Now the flowering quince, I can't seem to figure out whether it blooms on new or old wood. This year we cut it down about 2 weeks after it finished blooming. So now it is gigantic again and I'm afraid if I cut it back, I'll have no blooms next spring. AARRGH! When should a quince be cut for reblooming, and how far down? All the way to the ground? Thanks.

Since quince blooms fairly early in the year my guess would be that if you prune it now you'll lose your flowers, most spring bloomers you're supposed to cut back right after they bloom. However, that is just a guess, I'm sure there are exceptions to that rule!

I would try to improve the soil with a good airation and after that a good organic fertilizer. Lots of deep holes and milorganite. Check the thatch and see that water can penetrate. Also I would add some bone meal with the fertilizer to allow a phosphorous excess to stimulate bloom. All this I would do this fall and again in the spring. Have any over growth trees covered the sun canopy?

I have had quince bushes for 4 years now and had read somewhere that it should be pruned after flowering. It never bloomed or if it did, it was down at the bottom. This year I did the experiment and did not prune and I got flowers all the way to the top of the stems. But we also had a mild winter so that may be the reason.....

Hi all,
Quince: Ecrane3, what you wrote is what I've read. But what I've seen is what Ivy1 has seen. The years when I didn't prune at all, I had no blooms. At my college, there where hedges of flowering quince, which bloomed in March (this is in MD). The gardeners would cut the quince after the bloom all the way down and the next year we'd have blooming hedges again. The winters those years were very mild.
Dogwood: Soferdig, water can penetrate fine; I'm planning to do a de-thatching and aeration this fall anyway. I hadn't fertilized the tree, wasn't sure with what. The tree is in part-sun, there is that honey locust that creates some canopy, and some tall evergreen, but it's not complete. Can you suggest a fertilizer for the tree? Just blooming fertilizer like I use for roses or what?

I don't like inoganics so I would use milorganite and bone meal. Nitrogen and Phosphorous. If I used an inorganic it would be a higher Phosphorous like rose food. I always worry about trees that have trouble doing something in assuming it is a soil/root problem. Therefore I choose to perfect the soil as best I can to make the rest of it correct. No inorganics. Top dress with composted cowmanure after airation, thatching and remembering what might have gone on chemically in the last year.

All of this seems odd in that the tree was blooming just fine until a few years ago. Phosphorus concentration doesn't change much in the short term, at least not without some help, and there is no meaningful nutrient competition from the locust.

Have you done something differently lately? Grade change, pavement, turf establishment or management in the root zone, or something like that? If you rule out all such stuff, the most likely cause IMHO is that you have one of those southern pink cultivars that don't bloom except after even-tempered, mild winters because the flower buds are killed in bad winters or by fall or spring freezes (flower buds are more cold sensitive than leaf buds). Happens a lot here in the Midwest, but I have no experience in your area.

Regarding the quince, cut it back right after flowering so it will produce new growth for next year's bloom.

Guy S.

Hhhhmmmmm (thinking here about what went on): well last year the gardener de-thatched (but not very well); every spring we put down weed n feed pre-emergent and lime once in the spring, and really, aside from mowing that's all we do for the lawn. We were never heavy into chemical fertilizers, having children and a dog. But winters have been crazy, and last summer there was a month of no rain, with watering restrictions (the dogwood was about the only thing to get water). Maybe a few crazy winters and some dry summers did it? Would fertilizer help? This summer, although hot, has blessed us with a lot of rain so far. Guy- we did the driveway last fall but I don't think that's it, considering it stopped blooming years before. Soferdig- fertilize fall and spring? When in the fall?

The quince received a BIG haircut about 2 weeks after blooming ended (of course now it grabs you whenever you walk by it).

I really appreciate everyone's thought on this. Thank you all so much.

The weed-n-feed and the lime both can cause serious problems for trees, especially if used in excess. But I still think you have a tender cultivar and it will bloom gloriously the next time you have a gentle fall, moderate winter, and frost-free spring. Unless you live in the pine barrens or on railroad ballast, I would avoid the fertilizer. Normal average soils in the eastern US usually will not be a limiting factor for trees native to the region, and since your trees bloomed before and look healthy, I doubt you have fertility issues there.

Steve, I'm surprised Milorganite is available out there where you live! It comes from the Milwaukee sewage treatment plant, and I thought it was shipped only to nearby Midwest locations. But with your description of your growing conditions out there, I can see that it would be of great benefit for you. Seems odd that some Montana city isn't picking up on that and marketing its own local version of Milorganite, saving all the shipping costs.

Guy S.

Montana's only form of milorganite is cow doo doo. Nobody gets paid more than $6/hr and not much money goes into any of Montanas resources since mining got the boot. And not much of that left here. Our sewage plant uses its waste in a local product of Glacial Gold. We have Rail access to even the far eastern parts of this country. This since the 1800's. We are modern Americans. Milorganite is expensive here but I like the way it is easily spred on my airated soils in my lawn and gravitates deep into my glacial drummond to feed the creepycrawlers deep down.

(quote)The weed-n-feed and the lime both can cause serious problems for trees, especially if used in excess.

Guy- we use the pre-emergent and lime once in the spring, that's after the dogwood buds would have to have been set, and not every spring either (husband sometimes forgets). Is there another way to have a dandelion-free and green lawn near a dogwood?

Yes astro turf. LOL I like dandylions. But you need to consider that as a cause. Do like paul james says. Weeds are part of a garden setting. (I use weed spray 2-4 D on the individual dandys to keep them thin).

I don't mind dandies in the back, but don't want 'em in the front. Plus need to feed the lawn anyway. What's 2-4 D? I only have Weed Be-Gon or something like that.

That is weed be gone = 2 4 D.

If you cut your quince now you won't have any blooms. We had to cut our after Katrina in August, '05 and had no blooms. They can be pruned after they bloom in February-March. Mine usually is in bloom for Valentine's Day but I am in zone 9.

I got one of my little q-wince cut back involuntarily yesterday. DH went wild and decided to mow an area that he has never mowed before - there went Agastache Golden Jubilee, a white Quince and Nepeta Walkers Low along with a stand of sensitive fern and assorted salvias.
I don't even it in me to get irritated. Maybe gettting cut back was just what they needed at the end of July...

I bet it smelled so good while he was mowing......

My DH knows that it would be the last thing he EVER did...