I bought this Roughleaf Dogwood (Cornus drummondii) back in May, and I’ve been waiting for it to get stronger in the apex before working on it. You can see why I got it – it’s got killer bark and deadwood. Now, deadwood on deciduous trees is uncommon and some of you may reject the whole idea. I get it. But I think there’s a place for deadwood on certain deciduous trees, and frankly if it doesn’t belong you can usually sense it immediately upon viewing the tree.

Regardless, if you study this tree for a bit you’ll come to the conclusion, as I did, that it’s probably not going to fit the standard informal upright mold. To be sure, there are cases where you can skillfully “force-fit” a tree to a standard stsyle. And then there are those times when you just can’t.

So I turned the tree to a position that has a few things going for it: one, the very fine nebari is better shown from this viewing angle; two, by changing the position (using a block for now, and then potting it this way) I get a more viable design; and three, you can still see the fine bark and enough of the deadwood. I call it win-win.

What’s the downside of this tree-driven design? I don’t have any back branch at this time. This problem can be solved one of two ways, either by the tree pushing a bud in back (which is entirely possible, but most likely not till next spring), or I can do a foliar fill using the side branches and wiring sub-branches into the back space.

What do you think of this tree? Am I way off base with my design concept? Do you prefer the windswept look? Let me know.