HOW TO GROW CORNUS
The Cornus genus is so versatile, says Anne
SOMETIMES one genus of plants seems to have it all. The cornus tribe can offer the fabulous ‘flowering’ dogwoods (actually small flowers surrounded by ornamental bracts) such as C. kousa from Japan and Korea and C. nuttallii from North America.
Ground cover? Yes, there is the lowly dwarf cornel (Cornus canadensis) whose stems grow from creeping rhizomes and are decorated by starry white bracts.
For structure and presence, the wedding cake tree (Cornus contraversa
‘Variegata’) and pagoda dogwood (C.
alternifolia ‘Argentea’) are hard to beat. Chinese Cornus capitata is well known for its ornamental strawberry-like fruits and many have good autumn colour.
For wilder gardens, European Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) is just the thing for understated, yellow-green flowers composed mostly of anthers, while common dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) is a feature of wild hedges.
Many of the finer dogwoods need a neutral to acidic soil, so always check that their demands can be met.
Others are not fussy at all and this applies to a whole group grown for their colourful stems. They’ll succeed almost anywhere and you’ll see them decorating roundabouts and botanic gardens alike.
Their preference is for good, moist soil in full sun, which brings the best stem colours, but if you have to plant them in poor, dry soil then light shade would be an advantage. They’ll even tolerate a certain amount of waterlogging.
Between now and spring is their moment of glory, especially when careful siting allows winter sun to make them glow. Dogwoods are often grown with willows (cultivars of Salix alba) and the wand-like stems of both are popular with flower arrangers and basket weavers.
For the best display, plant cornus in groups of three or four. The bright ones show up well against dark soil, so perhaps just add spring bulbs and hellebores to take over after pruning. Darker-stemmed Cornus alba ‘Kesselringii’ look best underplanted with pale grasses or evergreen ground cover.
After pruning, make sure the soil is moist, apply a general purpose fertiliser on poor soils and mulch generously over the roots with well-rotted compost.