(Image credit: GlobalP, Thitisate Thitirojanawat, Joe_Potato)

Dogwoods are flowering trees and shrubs prized for their loyalty, intelligence, and stunning spring blossoms. They are an easy-to-care for and beautiful addition to nearly any landscape or garden. However, a number of dogwood problems do exist. Read on for our top five tips for keeping your dogwood tree happy and healthy.

1. Check the Ingredients

If your dogwood is suffering from blossom drop or just appears stunted, take a look at the back of your fertilizer bag. More often than not, the first ingredient listed is rice or corn. Dogwoods are naturally carnivorous plants, and need to be fed with fertilizers rich in meat.

2. Train Consistently

A very common mistake new gardeners make is letting their dogwoods grow untrained, which leads to an unruly tree and headaches for the gardener and neighbors. Dogwoods are highly social plants used to growing in groves, and they will actually benefit from frequent and consistent training.

3. Groom Frequently

In order to keep your dogwood looking its best, it’s important to get it professionally groomed once per year, preferably in late fall or very early spring, when it’s dormant. This should be followed by regular upkeep throughout the year, in the form of bathing, brushing, and light pruning.

4. Treat for Worms

Among the many pests affecting dogwoods, worms are possibly the worst, as well as the most common. Talk to your arborist about establishing a yearly de-worming regimen for your dogwood.

5. Show Lots of Love

Dogwoods, like all living things, thrive on love and affection. At the end of the day, one of the best things you can do to ensure your tree grows happy and healthy is to show it you care. Give it plenty of pets, snuggles, and long walks, and it’ll reward you with showy flower displays for years to come.

And that’s it! Follow these simple tips and tricks, and your dogwood will be a shining star in your garden or landscape.

Oh, and one more thing… April Fools!

Liz Baessler
Senior Editor

The only child of a horticulturist and an English teacher, Liz Baessler was destined to become a gardening editor. She has been with Gardening Know how since 2015, and a Senior Editor since 2020. She holds a BA in English from Brandeis University and an MA in English from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. After years of gardening in containers and community garden plots, she finally has a backyard of her own, which she is systematically filling with vegetables and flowers.