Cornus Kousa tree ( are they big or small)

[PaperCrane555]

Want a tree for a border and considering this. Have read it’s suitable for small gardens( ours is medium) but have been told by family they are huge.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/96780/cornus-kousa-var-chinensis/details

The one you've linked to says 7m but I think they can easily get to
12 metres so no I wouldn't consider it that small.

Have a look at the photos in this listing which show it as being quite large

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/893994138/cornus-kousa-var-chinensis-chinese

We have one. No idea how old, as it was here and apparently its full size in 2020 (in that it hasn’t grown noticeably since) — it’s maybe 15 feet tall, a small, neat tree. The flowers are gorgeous.

I'd put just slightly more weight on the RHS than Etsy, somehow.

The chinenesis is the one I was considering. Gardeners world says small but bil who knows his trees says they’re big.

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/20-trees-for-small-gardens/

Is it possible you're just using different definitions of 'big'?! I mean, it's not going to get to the size of, say, a beech tree. That may not mean it's the right size for your garden.

Despite what descriptions say about size of trees which i think is actually their expected size up 20 years they do not stop growing at that point so will keep getting bigger - you have to prune them regularly if you want to keep them to a certain size.

No, most trees do have a maximum height that they won't be likely to exceed (though obviously all trees grow differently, and the site where they're planted makes a huge difference too). Trees do generally continue to get wider round the trunks throughout their lives.

They are big but you can prune them heavily to keep them smaller eg 2m

It's a photo of a tree. 🙄

I can see that. But I would probably go with RHS specifications rather than photos of trees on etsy, if I were trying to establish how large a tree is likely to grow. That's just me being eccentric and weird, though ... it's not as if the RHS has any particular knowledge or expertise to offer.

It will start small, and they don’t grow very quickly, so I doubt you have much to worry about. And you can prune it in winter.

I have one that I bought three years ago and it’s hardly grown at all so I wouldn’t worry about it taking over.