Missing the Dogwoods?

With the very mild winter temps and the early spring warmup, our native dogwoods have long since bloomed and faded. But there is a way to extend that dogwood enjoyment time- add other Cornus species and cultivars to your landscape.

Cornus kousa- the Asian version of our native- is a fabulous tree. It has flowers that appear after the foliage instead of before. It also has large red fruits that look like raspberries in the fall, deep red fall color, and very ornamental peeling bark for an interesting winter appearance.

There are many cultivars of this Asian Beauty. There are weeping forms such as 'Lustgarten's Weeping', or variegated leaf forms such as 'Wolf Eyes', or pink flowering variegated forms such as 'Akatsuki'.

There is even a variety of this dogwood that is evergreen! The evergreen version has lovely green leaves all summer, and a good dose of red color all winter.

And once you've tasted another Dogwood species, keep moving on! Much harder to find but still wonderful is a little known NE native called Cornus alternifolia. This dogwood has fuzzy, plate-like blooms, larger leaves, and a graceful, architectural branching structure that stands out in the winter landscape. There are cultivars of this species, too, incuding one with the most amazing variegated foliage- 'Golden Shadows' (PP#11287)

Add one or two other Dogwoods to your garden, and enjoy them for months, instead of weeks!