#Red twig dogwood hedge full#

If, at any point, you decided you want to try one of the measures above, you could easily start implementing them the next spring.

The plant then would only have bright color at the tips of its stems each year. It's also perfectly okay if you don't want to do either of these things. This preserve the flowers and a larger plant, but it does require a bit more careful selection of which stems should be cut. The second option is to remove one-third of the oldest stems each year in spring. This practice would be started after the plant had been in the ground two or three years, and each year, you'd remove the oldest third. This simple approach keeps the plant smaller, but it has two disadvantages: one, it removes the flower buds, eliminating the bloom and any potential for berries to form, and two, it leaves you with no plant for a few weeks while it grows out of the haircut.

This may seem extreme, but it will regrow quickly in the following weeks. One option is to cut the whole plant back to small stumps in early spring each year, or every other year. There are two different approaches you can take to keeping your plant looking its best. When they get much older than that, the color is obscured by brown, corky, bark-like cells. The bright red color on red-twig dogwoods is only seen on stems that are one and two years old. But there is one important thing you need to do to keep them looking their best, and that's regular (or at least, semi-regular) pruning.

Thanks to its durability, red-twig dogwood firmly falls into the 'easy care' category. While it may be unsightly, it won't harm the plant. If humidity is very high, leaf spot can develop. It will even grow in mud or standing water, so go ahead and plant it even in a difficult spot. Wet or dry, clay or sand, acidic or alkaline, red-twig dogwood can tolerate it all. If you are growing them to attract spring azure butterflies to lay eggs, sun in spring and early summer is especially important.

#Red twig dogwood hedge full#

These shrubs will grow in full sun or full shade, though the color and habit is best with at least some sun each day. This color fades during spring and summer, redevelops as autumn temperatures get cooler and the days get shorter, and are at their showiest during winter, when the plant is leafless. Red-twig dogwoods get their name from the bright red hue their stems develop in winter. It occurs naturally throughout a good portion of North America, and is often found growing along riverbanks, streams, drainage ditches, and ponds or lakes. It is not terribly heat tolerant, however, and is not recommended for areas warmer than about USDA zone 7, especially hot and humid climates. sericea ‘Neil Z’):Ī 3 to 4 foot high and wide, upright shrub with glossy, puckered leaves and red twigs.Red-twig dogwood, known botanically as Cornus sericea (and formerly known as Cornus stolonifera, a name still in popular use) is extremely cold tolerant, thriving even in frigid USDA zone 2. Pucker Up! red-osier dogwood ( Cornus sericea ssp. sericea ‘Cardinal’):Ĩ to 10 feet high and wide spreading form with orange-red fall color and cherry-red winter stems resistant to leaf spots. Cardinal red-osier dogwood ( Cornus sericea ssp. sericea ‘Budd’s Yellow):Ī 6 to 8 foot high and 5-6 foot wide, rounded shrub with bright yellow stems. Budd’s Yellow red-osier dogwood ( Cornus sericea ssp. This cultivar has a compact habit reaching 4 to 6 feet high and has good fall color and red winter stems. Bergeson’s Compact red-osier dogwood ( Cornus sericea ssp. Cultivars are plants produced in cultivation by selective breeding or via vegetative propagation from wild plants identified to have desirable traits. This plant is a cultivar of a species that is native to the Chicago region according to Swink and Wilhelm’s Plants of the Chicago Region, with updates made according to current research.