About eight years ago we planted a pagoda dogwood bush on the north side of the house. I think that it had grown somewhere else in the yard for a year or so, but I really can't remember where. It was an impulse purchase, and basically unremarkable. But as it became a notable plant I moved it to a location where we could really appreciate it. It has thrived there, maybe more than would be best. It's now pretty much the only thing that can be seen from the window of our guest room on a summer evening.
A year or two later, we bought another young pagoda dogwood from Oberstadt Nursery. We paid a large amount for it, because now we were looking for something specific and couldn't find one anywhere else. I planted it outside of our bedroom on the south side of the house, but not in front of the window.
These photos of the winter profiles of the two bushes (trees?) show the amazing difference that full sun exposure makes. The North side pagoda is tall and lovely. The south side one is also beautiful, but shorther and fuller, much more compact. You can see the layering in both, but it reveals itself so differently.
In retrospect, I wish that I had planted both of them farther from the house. I'm usually pretty good at seeing the mature size of things and not crowding or planting too close. But I didn't do my research on Pagoda Dogwoods, and thought of them as shrubs when really they are more like trees. I hope for several more years before they become overgrown and have to be removed.
