Dogwood anthracnose today is not causing effects on flowering dogwood as striking as those observed in the 1980s in New York. We continue to be able to isolate the pathogen from leaves and twigs of older dogwoods in semi-shaded sites in Riverhead each year, but widespread blighting has not been seen in NY for decades. The best guess is that the pathogen killed the most susceptible individuals with ease, leaving only a few trees with some poorly understood resistance in its wake. It’s also possible that the pathogen itself may be less vigorous now than it was initially.