Description
Flowering dogwood is popular as a specimen or small grouping on residential property around homes, near patios or in lawns. It is also effective in woodland, bird or native plant gardens. Dogwoods are poor choices for street trees because they do not tolerate heat and pollution.
Bright red berries are an important food source for songbirds including evening grosbeak, cardinals, robins, cedar waxwings, and fall migrants.
The fruit is eaten by fall migrant birds, gray squirrel and fox squirrel.
Flowering dogwood, when stressed by poorly drained soils or fully exposed locations with limited moisture , is susceptible to a rather large number of insect and disease problems, the most serious of which is dogwood anthracnose.
Cultivars/Varieties
Dwarf forms (such as ‘Compacta’) and fastigiate plants (such as ‘Fastigiata’) are rarely available.
‘Appalachian Spring’ – highly resistant to anthracnose
‘Cherokee Brave’ – red, with deep pink bracts that have a white center, 15′ tall.
‘Cherokee Chief’ – red
‘Cherokee Daybreak’ – variegated with white-margined leaves that age to pink in fall. Flower bracts are white.
‘Cherokee Princess’ – very large white flowers, blooms heavily
‘Cherokee Sunset’ – red with variegated foliage that is marked with pink/yellow. 25′ tall
‘Cloud 9’ – white overlapping bracts, very heavy bloomer
‘Pendula’ – weeping white.
‘Plena’ – double white
var rubra (‘Rubra’) – flowers that range from pink to reddish
‘Welchii’ – variegated with a mixture of green, cream and pink. Flowers are white and the fall color is rose red.
‘Xanthocarpa’ – unusual yellow fruits and white flowers.
Sources
Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Flowering Dogwood – USDA Plant Fact Sheet
Flowering Dogwood – Missouri Botanical Garden
Flowering Dogwood – University of Connecticut Plant Database
Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance – Rutgers
Recommended Tree List – Maryland Department of Natural Resources
IPM Series: Dogwood – University of Maryland Extension
Recommended for Wildlife by
Gardening for the Birds by George Adams
Songbirds – FS613
Twelve Ways to Design a Bird Friendly Garden – Brooklyn Botanical Garden
Landscaping to Attract Birds – Baltimore Bird Club
For the Birds, Butterflies & Hummingbirds: Creating Inviting Habitats – Virginia Extension
Bringing Nature Home by Tallamy
Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States by Dove & Woolridge
Photo Credits
Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed
University of Connecticut Plant Database, http://hort.uconn.edu/plants, Mark H. Brand, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, Storrs, CT 06269-4067 USA.
Paul Cooper, CC BY-NC – 4.0
Lucy Bradley, CC BY-NC-SA – 2.0
James Gaither, CC BY-NC-ND – 2.0
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