Question
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Followup To
Question -
I have a dogwood tree that I planted 3 years ago and it has yet to bloom.  Every year it has small buds that are the flowers,but when spring comes the leaves start to grow and the buds  just sit there and then fall off. The tree is about 8-9ft tall I live in connecticut. Any ideas?
Answer -
perplexing. Not sure if the amount of sun has anything to do with this or not. have you gotten a freeze around the time that the bud are there, but not open yet? that could cause the plant not to bloom. What kind of dogwood is it? is it compleatly hardy in your area? some plants will live in a colder climate, but will not bloom well if it is too cold for them, Conneticut may be right on the boarder for some plants. you may want to contact the local extension service and see if they have any Ideas, they are usually in with the University in you area. Good Luck and Happy gardening.

Mark
Thank you for replying. The tree is in full sun. I'm not sure what type of dogwood it is but I did buy it at a nursery near my home.  I don't remember which one because I go to a lot of different ones. There are many dogwoods in our area that bloom each year,  my neighbor across the street has 2 dogwood in her yard ond one is starting to bloom now but we looked at the other one and it seems to be doing the same thing that mine is.  The leaves look healthy and the tree has been growing.The buds are there all winter but they just don't grow and bloom when spring comes. If I touch one of the buds that are still on the tree they just drop off. It hasn't been an unusually cold winter and there were no major late freezes. Could there be a fertilizer or something I could use so next year I may finally see flowers?  WHen I bought the tree 3 years ago it was in bloom but has never had an open flower since, it is a pink dogwwod if that makes any difference.  Thanks for your help!

Answer
Mary Ann. Boy, this one is a tough one. some plants can be finicky, and just not do what we want, then all of a sudden, boom, and there will be flowers, I hope that could happen with these. You can fertilize them with a tree and shrub fertilizer, a good product that I recommend is Miricle-Gro. it seems to work very well. Peters plant fertilizer is also very good. Check at one of the nurseries for what they may have. as far as the flowering problem, check with your local county extension agency, and see if they may have any ideas. most extension agencies run through an university, they may be able to ehlp yo more with this one, as they may have seen this exact problem in your area before. I sure hope you get some flowers on you dogwood. Good luck and happy gardening.

Mark