If there is one American plant truly deserving of recommendation for ornamental use over a greater part of the United States, it is the flowering dogwood.
Commonly distributed in the woodlands over half the country at least, Cornus florida has been a highly valued ornamental since colonial times, and justly so.
One can seldom go wrong in recommending this dogwood for planting on the home grounds, especially where acid to neutral soils prevail and long summer droughts do not govern the selection of plants. Fortunately, it is available from most nurseries.
Everyone is familiar with its white flower bracts, four of which together are thought of as a “flower.”
The true, minute, yellow flowers are bunched in the center formed by these four bracts.
These true flowers bear the bright red fruits in the fall that are so colorful and most attractive to the birds.
Flowering Dogwood: Indicator Of Spring
Native in the East from Florida to southern New Hampshire and Maine, and as far west as Ontario, Texas, and even Mexico, the flowering dogwood has made many ardent friends over the years.
The tree may be as much as 40’ feet tall and nearly a century old, but usually, they are considerably lower than this and younger as well.
The flowers appear in mid-spring, and because the plant is so widely distributed, it is an excellent “indicator” of just when mid-spring occurs in a specific area.
In the Fall
The resplendent brilliant scarlet color makes this tree one of the best native or exotic trees for fall display.
It should be planted in full sun to produce its best fall color, for shaded trees are not nearly as colorful.
This is one of the reasons we appreciate those trees that just happen to have grown on the edge of the woodlands, for they flower, fruit, and color in the fall far better than they do in shady situations.
The bright red berries are about the size and shape of grains of puffed wheat, usually about 5 to 12 in number. They are really small insects surrounded by pulp.
They turn red before the leaves become scarlet, so there is an excellent red-green color combination earlier in the fall.
Birds are fond of the fruits, and it is undoubtedly because of this that the tree has been so widely distributed in the woodlands of North America.
The branches grow horizontally, making the tree flat-topped, an important characteristic.
Older branches begin to droop a bit as they become heavier, thus displaying the upper side where the flowers are produced.
This branching habit is not only of interest during the growing season but all winter long as well.
Most trees have an upright branching habit, so those with horizontal branches like the dogwood are greatly needed for variation in the landscape, especially during the long winter months when all deciduous trees are bare of foliage.
Dogwood Varieties
There are several varieties of dogwood.
The pink or red flowering form is the most popular for its large colored flower bracts that are most beautiful in the spring.
In its extreme northern range, this variety has proved slightly less hardy than the white-flowered type.
There is a story that Thomas Meehan, a famous Philadelphia nurseryman, discovered a tree along the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia nearly 75 years ago with one branch that produced pink flowers.
He cut the entire branch and grafted twigs onto seedlings in his nursery. However, this variety appears at several widely distributed localities in the woodlands of the South and has undoubtedly originated at several places independently.
In any event, it is a colorful tree when in flower.
Other varieties available from only a few nurseries would include:
- The double-flowered form plena
- The pendulous branching pendula
- The yellow fruited Antilocapra
To most people, none of these forms is as beautiful as the species.
Suppose one carefully observes a large number of trees in flowers. In that case, it soon becomes evident that the flowers vary in size, some being merely 2” inches from the tip of one bract to the tip of another, others being as much as 6” inches.
The small-flowered types are just as beautiful as the very large-flowered forms, and to many of us, even more so.
Flowering Dogwood Propagation
Cuttings, grafting, or seeds easily propagate the flowering dogwood. Each seed usually contains two embryos, each one capable of producing a plant.
The seed should be stratified for 3 to 4 months at about 41° degrees Fahrenheit. Otherwise, it may take 2 years to germinate.
Grafting out-of-doors is simple and easy, especially if one is trying to “makeover” the species with scions from one of the varieties.
Wrapping such grafts in polyethylene film for a few weeks may help.
Still, we have had excellent success at Arnold Arboretum merely by grafting in early spring when the tree is dormant and coating the grafted union with wax.
Homeowners can quickly learn the technique of outdoor grafting on dogwood since it is so easily done.
Commis Muttalib: Relative Of Cornus Florida
On the West Coast, Cornus florida is represented by a first cousin, Commis Muttalib, which is taller (up to 75’ feet) and has 6 bracts that gradually turn a pinkish color even though they first appear pure white.
This tree, which blooms a little earlier in the spring, cannot be grown in the East and is recommended only for growing on the Pacific Coast, where it is just as popular and colorful as Cornus florida in the East.
Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, well-known for the historic battle fought during the Revolutionary War, has recently become famous for the thousands of flowering dogwoods planted there as a living memorial.
Other towns and highway departments have started to plant dogwood in large numbers.
It is not exactly pest-free, for borers sometimes do attack the trunk, and a canker disease may trouble a few transplanted trees in northern New Jersey and southern New York.
However, the dogwood is a tree of remarkable beauty every season of the year, something that cannot be said of many woody plants being grown in our gardens today.