Overfeeding? Are the buds getting eaten off by deer? Not enough sun?

My Kousa did not bloom last year. Same situation, it looked green and healthy, no signs of insects, but yet it did not bloom.

This year it was gorgeous-loaded with blooms! I'll never figure it out.

Kousa don't bloom for the first few years after planting. If yours are established, there are many things to consider.

The 9th post in the following thread gives some clues:

http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3508&highlight=Kousa

As for actually having buds that don't bloom, I'm not sure about that. Perhaps they were frostbitten.

It depends on the maturity of the tree... One of my sisters has one (which was not what she wanted) and it did bloom the year after it was planted and every year since (has now been in the ground about 4 years). However she was livid when she found it was a Kousa and not the C. florida that she originally ordered. We chuckle every year thinking of that when these are blooming (I know, that's bad. :-p).

That post in the thread that Maggie linked to (the next to last post in the thread) about diurnal temperatures (and the increasing incidence of a narrower range of day/night temp differences) during the time of year when the buds for the next year are being set, was an interesting hypothesis.

hello kelsee??? are you still there??

Do you prune the dogwoods at all?