Here is Cornus kousa not flowering so well this year.  No obvious reason why, but certainly not on account of shortage of water this year or last. Last autumn it produced one fruit, like a rather unripe large cherry,and a spectacular display of crimson leaves. Perhaps it is just having a year off, as so many trees and shrubs seem to do.

I used to think that this was C. kousa var. chinensis, because the RHS says that the bracts of this turn red-pink before dropping off, as they do on this plant.  On the other hand, C.k. var. chinensis has smooth-margined leaves, whilst this plant has unmistakeably wavy-edged leaves.  It has grown as big as it is likely to I think.

The bare branch above it is one of Magnolia veitchii‘s dead ones now being consumed by coral spot, and signifying the Magnolia’s apparently unstoppable dying back.

The flowers of Cornus kousa are insignificant, like most of the Cornus genus.  It is the bracts arranged in fours that show. Already with these, the  change from cream to pink is beginning.

C. kousa seems to like us normally, and so do some other Cornus varieties, such as C. alba ‘Sibirica’, C. sericea and C. sanguinea ‘Winter Flame’.  Sadly, C. canadensis refuses to grow at all, even given quite suitable conditions – I am always looking for groundcover plants for partial shade, but I think I am going to have to give up on C. canadensis.

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