Does this dogwood tree serve a purpose in this location?

[LansdowneGardener]

Hi gardening enthusiasts,

I planted this dogwood tree ( white flowers that face upward and bloom later than the pink dogwoods) in my front yard about 8 years ago. At the time I bought it, I thought it was the kind that has pink flowers facing outwards, not upwards. It was planted in poor soil and part shade because of a big oak tree near the sidewalk. It has very few blooms in springtime and the blooms can only be seen from the top of the tree ( as I also see it from my 3rd floor bedroom). I feel like it's not serving any purpose. It doesn't bloom enough, it creates shade on my garden so I have to choose plants that are shade-loving, and even those don't grow well.

Should I cut this tree down? Is it serving any purpose at its present location? Thanks for your opinions.

[HoneyBerry]

All trees serves a purpose for wildlife, such as birds and squirrels. Trees provide some shade from the sun and beauty. I think that trees are valuable and I hate to see them cut down. You might be able to get it to produce more blooms.

[rainbowgardener]

As a general statement all trees serve a purpose and I hate to see them cut down. But your dogwood is adding nothing landscaping-wise. It blocks the view of and from your house and looks a bit odd that way.

I think taking down it and putting a shrub in that area would look better. If you put in a native berry producing shrub, like a viburnum, vaccinium, ribes, or amelanchier you would replace all the habitat value of your dogwood. Just watch the varieties. All those shrubs come in dwarf varieties (what you want) and full sized ones that would get almost as big as your dogwood is now.

[HoneyBerry]

I think that treet would look better over to the side rather than centered on the window. But it's not easy to move an 8 year old tree. I'd probably leave it. From a design perspective, it isn't in the best spot. I wonder what the "view" is. Sometimes it's nice to block the view. The house looks like a nice house and the window looks like it was intended to take in the view of whatever is beyond the yard. The tree where it is somewhat blocking what that big window was trying to do.

[LansdowneGardener]

Thank you for your replies. I very much appreciate it. The thing you are seeing behind the plants is the sunroom. The view you'll be seeing from the sunroom beyond the garden is the street. At the time I planted the dogwood I thought it was a good idea because it would be in the center of the yard, but looking at it now, it wasn't a good idea after all. May I pick your brains some more and ask for suggestions as to how this front yard can be redone or "fixed"? By the way, I took this picture only a few days ago when almost all the flowers are spent. Thanks again.

[HoneyBerry]

Your place is certainly not bad looking. But since you are asking for opinions, I will tell you that the one thing that I noticed right away is that your landscaping looks very symmetrical. I think that an asymmetrical arrangement of plants would look better. You could move your plants around to create a more random pattern. What the pros try to do is to create "balance without symmetry". There is more to it than what I can write in this short paragraph.

[LansdowneGardener]

Thank you, BirdLover. I was, and still am ( as you can tell) a newbie at garden design. When I started planting when we bought our house 10 years ago, I had no idea which goes with what, etc. I didn't bother to do any reading before I started, and as the plants built up the garden became more symmetrical as that was what I thought it is supposed to be . That's why I'm asking for some advice from experienced gardeners like you as I'm planning on redoing my gardens. Here is a picture of my front garden with some of the flowers in bloom.

[HoneyBerry]

It's beautiful. It doesn't have such a symmetrical look from that angle.

[laurie basler]

I purchased what I thought was a pink dogwood. It was mismarked. I put it in a very sunny spot, near my heat pump, in soil I now realize was not to it's liking at all. Its blooms were smallish, and sparce. The tree itself barely grew in height for years. One fall, just bored with it, I moved it to a spot near my front door, careful to give it good soil, and just a bit of shade in the am. Since that first spring in it's new spot, the tree is covered with much bigger, whiter blooms and grows to the point, I have to prune often for height. Maybe give it a new home to test out. It sure made a difference for mine.