Cornus florida - Flowering Dogwood - is one of the iconic native american flowering trees. Its native range is from the New England to northern Florida west through... well almost to the Mississippi River really, and even beyond. It is a lovely spring flowering tree. It's great when you're traveling through the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway this time of year, these and the redbuds are often blooming together so it's a wonderful display.

Flowering dogwood is a small tree, a small flowering tree, it tops out at maybe thirty to thirty five feet in the wild, often smaller than that under cultivation, with a spread that's about two thirds or almost equal to that. It's a wide spreading mounded tree. Its branches often droop right to the ground which it is an indication that it wants to protect its root zone. When I see that in a tree, whether it's a beech tree or a flowering dogwood, that is an indication that it's sensitive to root zone incursions so you want to protect that area around its base very carefully. Here at the garden we have used a lot of mulch rings and other ways to protect this from mowers.

There are several disease problems that are associated with dogwoods, anthracnose is one of them. When we have an extended, cool, rainy spring this disease affects the flowers and also can affect the leaves all summer long. But generally if you plant them in morning sun, where the sun helps to dissipate the moisture and the dew from the leaves that is advantageous for this tree. And then some afternoon shade is also good to give it a break from the heat of the day. They're an age of the woods native. Think of them as growing next to the deciduous woods so you want to make sure there's plenty of moisture in the ground if it's growing in full sun.

Flowering dogwood is a member of the it's own family Cornaceae. There are dogwoods worldwide, different species worldwide. The Cornelian cherry dogwood - Cornus mas is from Asia.

But this lovely American native also has a fabulous fall color. They tend to be in the dark red to purple range sometimes you find a lighter red on them in the fall.

They're great when planted with Witch-hazels which turn a wonderful yellow color, they're great companion plants. My favorite cultivar of these is Cherokee, it's a nice pink color. There are some varieties with darker red and of course most of them are this wonderful white collar as well.

Great fall color, wonderful flowering, it's even got a wonderful shape during the winter time when no leaves are on the tree. This part of the flower will become a nice red berry like arrangement and if the squirrels don't get them they will stay on the tree well into the fall, adding a little bit of extra interest.

Cornus florida - Flowering Dogwood.

#dogwood

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