We planted a 4 ft pink flowering dogwood last april of 2010. It receives morning sun and is near the canopy of a locust tree. It is planted with our foundation plantings about 8 - 10 feet from the house in a flower bed with azaleas and rhododenron - the tree faces east. The tree initially acclimated well but then seemed to suffer during the heat wave we had. The leaves drooped and wilted and we did have some browning on the edges of the leaves. We watered weekly during the heat and dry spell and also mulched. The leaves perked up in the fall with the rain but about 10% of the leaves were completely brown and fell off. I notices the remaining leaves changed to red late in the fall but never fell off the tree. Is the tree dead if the leaves don't fall off? Is there anything we can do for it?

Greetings Holly:

An easy way to determine whether or not a branch, young seedling/sapling, or tree is still alive is to conduct the "scratch" test: take your finger nail and lightly scratch the thin, outer bark to reveal a cream or greenish color. If the scratch test fails to produce a cream or greenish color (i.e., it is brown or gray) beneath the thin outer layer of bark, then that portion of the tree/shrub is likely dead.

If the scratch test comes back positive (i.e., alive), then I would merely suggest waiting until late spring/early summer to see how the tree responds.

Be patient and play the wait and see game as there isn't anything you can do for this tree during the middle of dormancy :-)