Versatile shrubs with bright winter colors!
Native dogwood shrubs don't get as much attention as our iconic dogwood trees but they should! I have been enamored with red twig dogwoods (Cornus sericea) for sometime. Dark red stems in winter add non-stop color through the darkest months. The shrubs grow 4 to 6 feet high and wide and grow well in sun and part shade. They easily withstand clay and wet soils and grow well in medium moisture soils too. They work well in rain gardens and for stabilizing slopes. Please note that in droughty conditions like we had during the summer of 2024, they may need supplemental water. It is also very easy to create new red twig dogwoods from cuttings of branches.
These shrubs are native through much of the United States except the deep south and lower midwest. Whether planted alone or in in mass, they are a sight to behold in winter. Add yellow twig dogwoods and you have a winter garden!
What I have never been clear on is where the yellow twig dogwoods (Cornus sericiea 'Flaviramea') come from. Yellow twig dogwoods are often labeled as "native" but I was never quite sure. Yellow twig dogwoods are a cultivar of native red twig dogwoods. Are they a cross between a native and non-native dogwood? I don't know. There is a Mt. Cuba introduction of a dogwood cultivar with a white and green variegated leaf (Swida sericea) that they describe as a sport of a yellow twig dogwood. A sport is a naturally occurring genetic mutation that can change a plant's foliage or flowers. If anyone knows how the yellow twig dogwood cultivar came about, please let us all know. The one thing I do know is adding a couple of yellow twig dogwoods to your winter garden will make for some real color!
Stepping back for a moment, there are a lot of dogwood shrubs out there. We have the red twig dogwoods (Cornus sericea), native to North America. There are blood twig dogwoods (Cornus sanguinea) native to Europe and there are tartarian dogwoods (Cornus alba) native to Asia. For each of these, there are many cultivars on the market that create some pretty intense stem colors. Portland Nursery in the Pacific northwest has a good snapshot of the breadth of cultivars on one page.
Most of these shrubs grow to a similar size, have small white flowers in spring, medium green foliage in summer and berries in late summer. If you are shopping for dogwood shrubs at a garden center, take care to make sure you are getting a native red twig dogwood if that is what you are after. Many look alike!
Our native red twig dogwoods support native insects like sawflies and is a larval host for butterflies. Those stems are a strong red hue in winter so if you are planting a new dogwood shrub, think native!
To maintain the bright red or yellow color of your shrubs you can take one of two approaches. The color is brightest on new stems. To keep steady winter color in your shrubs you will want to make sure you have plenty of younger stems. You can cut the shrub back to 8" or so every third year. Alternatively, you can cut out several of the oldest stems every year. If you prune yearly, make sure to take no more than one third of the stems out. In the shrub above, you would cut out the thicker grey stems. Cutting the shrub back entirely every three years will keep the shrub to the smaller side. Pruning select stems yearly will keep the shrub to the larger side.
These shrubs are very easy to propagate by cuttings. There is more information here. Essentially you can stick a 12 to 18" piece of stem in the ground with the growing end pointed up and it will root and eventually form a shrub. It takes at least two growing seasons to get a plant that is robust enough to prune and begin to shape so patience is required. If you are interested in trying this and don't have a friend who can provide cuttings, bare root stems for red twig dogwood and bare root stems for yellow twig dogwood are available by mail.
However you proceed, red twig dogwoods are an excellent winter garden addition. Yellow twig dogwoods too!
Happy Garden Planning.
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