Common dogwood

Common dogwood: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Shrub of 2–4 m with upright branches; forms a dense thicket through suckers.

Leaf

Opposite, oval, 4–8 cm, untoothed, with curved veins. Tear a leaf gently and thin white threads stay hanging between the pieces. Wine-red autumn colour.

Bark

Twigs blood-red on the sunny side, especially in winter.

Flower

Flat heads of small white flowers in June.

Fruit

Bluish-black berries, not edible.

Difference from cornelian cherry

Cornelian cherry flowers yellow before the leaves and bears red fruits.

Flowering: May–June · Pruning: February–March

Identify by feature: Black berries · Blue berries

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Cornelian cherry Cornus mas: flowers yellow before the leaves and bears red fruits. Difference from cornelian cherry

Why grow it?

• Red twigs in winter and wine-red autumn leaves.
• Flowers in June for insects, berries for birds; a good nesting site.
• Grows fast and almost anywhere, including wet soil.
• Tolerates hard pruning: you can cut it back almost to the ground.

Common dogwood: where does it grow best?

• Sun to partial shade; in sun the twigs colour best.
• Almost any soil, ideally chalky; also tolerates wet soil.
• Allow 3 m width; if you let the suckers spread, it gets wider.
• Ideal for a mixed hedge, a hedgerow or a bank.

Light

Sun or partial shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

4 m tall, 3 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Guelder rose: Red berries next to the red twigs, in the same damp, mixed hedge.
• Hazel: Yellow catkins in February above the red twigs.
• Hawthorn: Together a dense native hedge with blossom, berries and nesting sites.
• Winter heath: A pink-flowering ground cover in winter, in front of the red twigs.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Together a mixed native hedge, good for birds and insects: hawthorn, blackthorn, hazel, dog rose, guelder rose, wild privet, field maple, hornbeam
• Suits the woodland edge or the light shade of: ginkgo, box elder, ash, honey locust, field maple, silver maple

Common dogwood: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or root-balled.
2. In a hedge or hedgerow: one plant per metre, mixed with other native shrubs.
3. Plant at the same depth as before and firm the soil well.
4. After planting, cut the branches back by half: it will then shoot densely from the base.

Care

Watering

In dry spells during the first year; hardly at all after that.

Feeding

Not needed.

Suckers

Dig out suckers where you don’t want them, or use them to make new plants.

Winter colour

The younger the twigs, the redder they are: remove some old wood every year.

Tip: For the brightest winter colour, cut the whole shrub back in March every two to three years: you will get a mass of young red twigs. Cultivars such as ‘Midwinter Fire’ have orange-yellow twigs with red tips.

Common dogwood: when to prune it?

Pruning months: February–March.

When: Late February–March.

How:

• Every year, saw a third of the oldest stems off at ground level: the young stems have the best red colour.
• A shrub that is too big or bare can be cut right back to 10–20 cm above the ground; it will regrow vigorously.
• At the same time, dig out suckers growing where they shouldn’t.

Caution: Preferably prune before mid-March, when the nesting season starts; after that, check for nests in the shrub first.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Hardwood cuttings

In winter, push 20 cm lengths of one-year-old shoots two thirds of the way into the ground; they root easily.

Suckers

In winter, separate a rooted sucker and replant it elsewhere.

Common dogwood: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• After leaf fall it comes into its own: the red twigs are at their brightest from autumn to spring.

Diseases and pests

• Spreading: Through its suckers it can take over a corner of the garden. Dig out suckers every year, or plant it where it has room.
• Grey, bare shrub: Old stems lose their red colour and the shrub goes bare at the base. Saw out part of the oldest wood every spring.
• Powdery mildew: White coating on the leaves in late summer; harmless, clear up the fallen leaves.
• Aphids: Aphids on the shoot tips in spring; natural predators usually deal with them.

Through the year

• January: Red twigs at their best.
• February: Late February: prune, removing the oldest stems.
• March: Prune before mid-March; last month for planting.
• June: Flowering: white flower heads full of insects.
• September: Bluish-black berries for the birds.
• October: Wine-red autumn colour.
• November: Planting and taking hardwood cuttings.
• December: Dig out or transplant suckers.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Shrub for winter colour and mixed hedges; tolerates wet soil.

For wildlife

Flowers for insects, berries for birds; a good nesting site.

Good for wildlife

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Hoverflies

Open flowers for hoverflies; many of their larvae eat aphids.

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Did you know?

• Fits perfectly into a mixed native hedge and brings winter colour to the garden.
• ‘Sanguinea’ means blood-red, after the colour of the twigs and the autumn leaves.
• The trick with the white threads of a torn leaf works for all dogwoods: it lets you recognise them even without flowers.
• The species name sanguinea means ‘blood-red’, after the colour of the twigs in winter and the leaves in autumn.
• The English name ‘dogwood’ is thought to come from ‘dagwood’: its hard, straight shoots were once used to make skewers and pegs, known as ‘dags’.