Question
QUESTION: I have four red twig dogwoods I planted 2 weeks ago.  They have doubled in size, starting out at about 1 foot now almost 2, with lots of new leaves and branches. I live in Ohio Miami Valley and we just got a shot of really cold heavy rain; when I got home from work 3 out of the 4 were sunken or wilted down.  I did not see any broken limbs, but, the branches were drenched.  Most of the branches are still a greenish to red color.  I work for a lawn/landscape company and know when to fertilize and prune.  I just never seen something change like that in less than one days time.  I did have them sprayed today for canker worms but I do not think that would have hurt them.  Any advice?

ANSWER: Hi Brian,
Thanx for your question.  I live in Kansas and we get frequent, early blasts of warm air and then out of the blue, a frigid spate of cold rain and wind.  This year we had some late blasts that did damage to our fruit trees and some of the flowering shrubs.  I think your red twig dogwoods will recover.  Just give them some time.  A cold blast like you described will make it look like it killed or severely injured the plant but the root system is still alive as are the insides of the branches.  Just give it some time and it will come out of it.  I wouldn't do anything to the plants now.  Just make sure the soil drains well and doesn't remain soggy.  I hope this helps.
Tom

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the reply.  The dogwoods came back and have grown more since that rain.  One of the plants though started curling at the stems of the leaves.  Not all of them but a good number of them.  I probed the soil and found that the soil sunk about 4 - 5 inches; there was a nice sized air pocket in there.  The leaves had spots similar to when you cut lettuce and the edges turn brown.  I fixed the air pocket and repacked the soil properly. I am hoping the speed of the others have grown will be the same with this one and help repair it.  Also, I want to prune it to be round when it gets to be 4-5 feet to tall.  When should I prune it?

Answer
Hi Brian,
Thanx for the additional information.

Becayuse red twig dogwoods are grown more for their colorful winter stems they produce the best red stem color on young stems, they are usually pruned in the spring. You can cut all of the stems down to within a few inches of the ground. This will force new stems to sucker up from the roots. Not only does this treatment produce the most colorful stems, it is also a great way to keep these vigorous plants in bounds.

I hope this helps.
Tom