This fall I fell in love with red twig dogwood. It is one of the few native shrubs among an overwhelming multitude of invasive plants and shrubs that edge the trail where I walk every morning. The dogwoods have been particularly beautiful this fall, or perhaps they’ve always been there, just waiting for me to notice them.
In mid-October, the leaves begin turning a beautiful dark red, and during the time when some have turned and others remain a deep dark green, the plant is reminiscent of a wonderfully sophisticated Christmas decoration. Next, the leaves fade to a lovely peach color. Dogwood isn’t one to scream with bright autumn colors. No, it just glows with quiet beauty.
It is in late October and throughout the winter that red twig dogwood really shines. The young stems turn a pure fire engine red that really stands out against the browns of the autumn landscape and the white snows of winter. The cut red twigs are spectacular in holiday displays when coupled with evergreens or dried grasses or even on their own.
Red twig dogwood – Latin name Cornus sericea – is a deciduous shrub that grows 6-12’ tall with a loose form. In May or June, flat umbrella-like clusters of small white, fragrant flowers form. The flowers eventually turn into green, pea-sized berries that ripen to white by fall. The leaves are an extended oval shape and have prominent veins.
Dogwoods prefer full sun, but do just fine in light shade. They thrive in medium to wet soil, and will survive even boggy conditions.
The red branches lose their bright color and return to gray in spring. Older stems will stop turning red in winter so some gardeners will prune out a few of the older stems at ground level each year in early spring. If the plant gets out of hand and overgrown, an alternative is to cut the entire plant down to about 9” to rejuvenate it.
Red twig dogwood is easily propagated by stem cuttings. You may find some of the lower stems partially burying themselves in the soil and developing roots along the buried stems. These can be dug up and planted elsewhere.
Being a native plant, dogwood supports many birds and insects, not to mention the photo opportunities presented when birds perch in its red winter branches. It is a larval host for the spring azure butterfly. The flowers attract insects which then attract birds.
Red twig dogwood works as a specimen plant in a landscape as well as part of a shrub border or informal hedge. It is effective combined with evergreens or a yellow-branched dogwood cultivar called ‘Flaviramia’. If a large shrub won’t fit your landscape, there is a dwarf cultivar called ‘Artic Fire’ that grows just 3-5’ tall.
There are few problems with dogwood, but it can be susceptible to leaf and twig blights, canker and leaf spots, and occasional scale, leaf miners and bagworms.
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