EYE-POPPING NEW DOGWOODS MAKE GREAT GARDEN ADDITIONS
The first wave of dogwood blooms is just beginning to light up our landscapes and parks, and they add so much vibrancy to any garden.
As B.C.’S official flower, dogwoods are well deserving of their recognition. I wrote an article about dogwoods in spring 2019, but I want to recognize some of the amazing new varieties in 2020.
In the Lower Mainland, we do not often see our native dogwoods in their natural forest settings. Changing weather patterns, particularly wetter springs, and subsequent leaf blotch fungus have caused their demise. Development, with so many new homes on hillsides and lower mountain areas, has also taken its toll.
Back in the 1950s, H. M. Eddie, — one of our early B.C. nurserymen — developed a much more resilient cross between the eastern dogwood (Cornus florida) and our native specie (Cornus nuttallii). The result, Eddie’s White Wonder, is still one of our best dogwoods.
A smaller to mid-size shade tree, it grows about seven to eight metres tall, has a reasonably narrow form, and blooms tremendously with creamy white blossoms that completely smother the tree. In addition, it has magnificent red fall colour and is really a showpiece twice a year.
‘Venus’ is another eye-popper. It is a cross between our native dogwood and the Asian kousa dogwood. Similar in size to Eddie’s White Wonder, it has remarkable 15- to 18-centimetre blooms. You cannot help but stand back and say “wow!” ‘Starlight’ is another exciting new variety. Both are very disease tolerant and stand up well to our wet climate.
Not to be outdone, the florida dogwoods, especially the vibrant pink C. florida Rubra, are now in full bloom and putting on some very showy displays. It is still the standard to which all newer varieties of floridas must be compared. It grows about five to eight metres in height and width, makes a nice screening tree, and has brilliant fall colouring in multiple shades of scarlet reds and oranges.
Cherokee Chief has slightly redder toned flowers, and Cherokee Brave is a deep pinky red variety that is quite disease resistant.
Gardeners can use the dogwood family to create more than two months of colour and beauty.
Japanese chinensis and native Korean kousas begin blooming about four weeks after the nuttalliis and floridas. Growing anywhere from eight to 12 metres in height and width, I find them to be a little faster growing and more disease resistant. Even though the blooms are smaller, their huge displays make these trees must-haves.
For today’s smaller gardens, kousas can be more easily pruned and kept compact. The time to prune them is right after flowering and before the new growth begins, allowing time for next year’s buds to develop.
No doubt, the star of this group is the pink flowering C. k. Satomi. A location with morning sun and afternoon shade seems to suit them best. There are many varieties of white kousas, and all of them are standouts. ‘Milky Way’ is often noted as the most floriferous.
All kousa varieties have rich scarlet fall colour, and in late summer all produce red edible fruits that taste much like ripe persimmons. Because of their hard seeds and tough rinds, the fruits are generally not eaten fresh but rather mashed and used for making jams, sauces or wines.
I’m most excited about the many new varieties of kousas with variegated foliage. Some early ones had foliage that did not open but remained curled. The newer varieties, however, are truly magnificent.
Wolf Eyes, with its somewhat wavy white and green leaves that have red margins in fall, is the best known. Samaritan is one of my favourites. Its early green foliage develops stunning creamy white variegations with pink marginal infiltrations in fall.
A new variety, C.k. Summer Fun, is among the most suntolerant and most vigorous variegated forms, and its foliage has now become the one for all others to match.
Summer Gold and Gold Star have more of a gold and green colour variegation. They have also become a hit in the smaller-tree world, offering not only rich white flowers and stunning summer foliage, but also intense fall colour.
All these new varieties are slowly finding their way into local nurseries, so keep an eye out for these great garden additions.
All dogwoods require a little more care to get growing. They need a location with exceptionally good drainage, and require thorough watering until their roots become established in their new home.
Initially, you may find curly leaves and a slower startup, but after one growing season, they will perform up to your expectations.
In the Lower Mainland, we do not often see our native dogwoods in their natural forest settings. Changing weather patterns, particularly wetter springs, and subsequent leaf blotch fungus have caused their demise. Brian Minter