Cornus florida disease susceptibility, affect on near plants

Hi, all. I am interested in planting a flowering dogwood, a Cornus florida Cherokee Princess or Cherokee Chief probably or something very similar. I had been convinced not to plant one though, because of their susceptibility to diseases like anthracnose and fungal diseases. Now I'm starting to think I just want to give one a try because I love them so much. I'm willing to take the risk of the dogwood getting these diseases, but I don't want it to "infect" the rest of my beloved garden. Does anyone know if the anthracnose and fungal leaf diseases that the dogwood gets are host specific, and thus won't infect nearby plants and trees of different species? It will be planted near Japanese maples, hydrangea, azaleas, hostas. I do also have a Cornus Alternifolia 'Golden Shadows' and a Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' in my backyard too, which I assume would be more likely to be infected if the Cornus Florida also gets infected. I also am aware of the much better disease resistance of Cornus Kousa varieties, but it's the branching pattern and form of the Cornus Florida (combined with the flowering) that I so adore. Thanks for any info or opinions.

If you already have Cornus species in your garden that do NOT have afflictions, then you are likely not to have any problems with them simply because you plant a Cornus florida, unless you purposely bring in a heavily infested plant.

If your part of the world already has Discula destructiva (you don't disclose where you garden), then your existing Cornus species will already have been exposed to it. I am not aware that this particular enemy of Dogwood attacks disparate genera, but you could google it to find additional information.

The 'Rutgers hybrids' (C. florida x C. kousa) are disease-resistant options w/ floral features more closely related to the C. florida parent, if you're really concerned w/ the anthracnose issue.

I'm in zone 7b, Richmond, Virginia. Many of the dogwoods here have been affected by anthracnose. My Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' and Cornus alternifolia Golden Shadows were just planted this past April 2009, but have been healthy so far. I did a little google search as suggested, which was helpful. Apparently, Cornus alba is susceptible to discula destructiva, but cornus alternifolia is not. The google search also made me realize how widespread the disease is for Cornus florida. One study of dogwood in a large park in Maryland found that 97% of the Cornus florida trees had been infected by discula destructiva, and 33% of those had died. So now I'm leaning towards not getting a Cornus florida because it seems likely I would be heartbroken at some point when it declines and possibly dies. It's so hard to resist them when the nurseries stock up on them every spring. I may get another Cornus alternifolia because I've been really happy with the one I have so far. I will consider the Rutgers hybrids also, but I'm really fond of the distinct horizontal branching pattern. Any more info or opinions are welcome on this.

Yes, it is heartbreaking to see yet another native tree succumbing to the scourge of this kind of problem.

As Weerobin has suggested, the Cornus x rutgersensis selections will have higher resistance to the anthracnose disease.

There are some newer selections of Cornus florida, all with the word 'Appalachian' in their name, that have high levels of resistance to some of the recent diseases afflicting Flowering Dogwood. The University of Tennessee has been leading in research and selection of these resistant plants. They are looking for plants that tolerate anthracnose and powdery mildew primarily. These might be some that you do some investigating about, and see if they fit your interest.

The TN work should be published by the UT and/or Tennessee Cooperative Extensive Service.

Thanks for the info on the Cornus florida Appalachian selections--I did not know about them. I'm definitely going to look into getting one of those.