Dogwood Shrub

If you are looking to add some easy-care shrubs to your landscape consider the Red Twig Dogwood (also know by at least 18 other common names, including Red Stem Dogwood, Western Dogwood, Redosier, and American Dogwood).

This shrub may not offer as much summer interest as other shrubs, but their vivid red or yellow twigs are stunning against a backdrop of white snowdrifts in the winter months.

There are many varieties of Dogwood shrubs--and each offers unique characteristics---but generally speaking they are fast growing; have a mass of vivid red (sometimes yellow) stems in the spring and again in winter; have interesting variegated leaves; lots of soft white flowers in the spring, and good color in the fall. Red twig Dogwoods will reach a mature height of about 4-8 feet tall and 10 feet wide. The Red Twig Dogwood can bloom from late May until early July. After three or four years of maturity it produces small white fruit that lasts throughout the season. The berries are attractive to a variety of wildlife including American goldfinches which prefer to nest in dogwood branches.  An additional benefit is that Deer do not find this shrub especially tasty.

Red Twig Dogwoods are deciduous plants that prefer full sun, but tolerate partial shade. Once established, they are forgiving of most soil conditions, but prefer moist to near wet sites with a higher soil ph of 5.5-7.0.  Consider planting near water or boggy sites.

The Red Twig Dogwood has fairly unremarkable brown stems in the summer months, but mass plantings can help draw attention to the bright leaves and away from the dull stems.  Additionally, yearly pruning-- each spring-- to within 3-4” above ground level helps to ensure a fresh growth of red stems to enjoy for spring and the winter months.

Dogwoods not only come in the small shrub variety, but also the classic springtime bloomer that is pictured in so many garden magazines at this time of year. These Dogwoods are considered small trees rather than shrubs and come in three types: Spring Flowering, Cornus Kousa, and the Rutger’s hybrid dogwoods.  These small trees are known for their beautiful flowers in spring and attractive layered branching pattern. With aggressive pruning, you can maintain them as large shrubs.

Probably the most outstanding bloomer is the Spring Flowering Dogwood. The Conrus florida offers a beautiful display of pink or white flowers in early spring.

This variety also has a very attractive branching habit, pretty red fruit in the summer months and a good show of color in the fall.  Unfortunately this variety has been very susceptible to the disease Anthracnose and in the 80’s and 90’s a large percentage of them were killed off.

The Chinese dogwood (Cornus Kousa) blooms a bit later in the season, usually beginning sometime in May and often lasting well into July. The standard flower color has been white but newer varieties offer pink. The Chinese dogwood is disease resistant, has attractive berries in summer and good fall color.