I'm planting a bunch of flowering trees (mostly black locust) for bee food and this year I picked up three flowering dogwoods.

As I understand it they have a pretty shallow root system so I don't want to put them in the yard, but rather they will be out closer to my hives and along the driveway.

My question is, how far out do the roots go? How close can I put them to the driveway?

Thanks/

Don't know about there but here we had several dogwoods but now only one-blight got the rest.

quote:

My question is, how far out do the roots go? How close can I put them to the driveway?

Root spread is about 1.5x the foliage spread, maybe a little more. They do OK when placed near hardscape, they are reasonably drought-tolerant, the roots don't heave concrete or asphalt, nor do they get lopsided with root restriction. But they will be healthier and prettier with more distance, 8' or so from pavement, and twice that apart from each other. They are not particularly trashy, but the flowers can stick to car paint when they're shed, and birds can crap when they eat the fruit so planting where they'll overhang cars is to be avoided.

The real killer of dogwoods is borers, that invade through wounds on the lower trunk caused by mower strikes. Avoid these, and your doggies will live to a ripe old age, which for them is only about 30 years or so.

This is in Virginia where they are our state tree, and in full bloom right now. They may not be quite so hardy in Montana.

Thanks for the info architect. I appreciate it.

Looks like I'll be OK where I'm planning on putting them. I was a bit concerned about their hardiness as well, but the nursery I bought them from (in GA) assured me that they'd do fine here. Where I am, we actually have some pretty mild winters (this year notwithstanding), so hopefully they'll do well and the bees will be happy.

What kind of dogwoods are they? There are American of various colors and Chinese which have white flowers.

Painting the trunks will protect the tree from sunburn, rodents such as mice, voles, and rabbits and borers.

You can paint the trunks with this to protect the tree:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/3-5...O31s-White/206864861

Or you can make your own from Glidden Gripper white latex paint and drywall joint compound. Use 1/3 of each and 1/3 water. Paint on a thick coat.

Dogwoods are not cheap and usually run $25+ for a small tree. The locus bugs several years ago did a lot of damage to one of my pink Cherokee Chief dogwoods.

I got a pink, a white, and a red. I assume they are the American variety.