Hedging Plants – Dogwood

Name – the red-stemmed dogwood is also called botanically: cornus alba, with the varieties Sibirica and Westonbirt being those that have the best winter colour.

Description and uses – Some shrubs have beautiful spring flowers while others provide nice summer foliage and yet make almost no display in winter. The red stemmed Dogwood has a year round appeal, it bears beautiful clusters of white flowers in the spring, plentiful lush green leaves in the summer and in the winter, when you expect a very little, a fiery show of colour surprises you, especially when the bright red stems contrast against frost or snow. Because it is very effective if planted in clumps, dogwood makes a good informal hedge. Although it’s not good at keeping out noise in winter because it’s deciduous. However, it loves wet and waterlogged ground, so it’s a wonderful plant to border a stream or boggy area. The fruit of several species can be edible, though without much flavour but some sub species have berries that are mildly toxic to humans, though readily eaten by birds and small mammals.

Maintenance and problems – as a shrub it will reach eight feet tall by ten feet across, and should be pruned hard in spring to improve stem colour – do this by going right to the base of the plant and removing a third of the oldest canes. This will not destroy the aesthetics of your hedge and encourages bright new growth from ground level – this means that the hedge is constantly being renewed from the ground up. Powdery mildew is caused by a fungus that attacks leaf surfaces and tender shoots - new growth is covered with a fine, white, powdery coating and spores are spread by wind to surrounding dogwood plants. Powdery mildew is most common in dense, shady areas where the air circulation is poor. Warm, dry days and cool, damp nights encourage the disease. Most powdery mildews occur late in the summer and are therefore of little consequence. Infection that begins early in the season can be devastating, and the use of fungicides may be necessary, alternatively cut out a number of stems to improve air circulation.

Hedging dogwood photograph by Noel Lee, used under a creative commons attribution licence

hedging yew, hedging berberis, hedging box, hedging cotoneaster, hedging currant, hedging dogwood, hedging edible, hedging euonymus, hedging gorse, hedging guelder rose, hedging hawthorn, hedging hazel, hedging holly, hedging hornbeam, hedging juniper, hedging laurel, hedging Lavender, hedging leyland cypress, hedging photinia, hedging potentilla, hedging privet, hedging pyracantha, hedging rose, hedging sloe, hedging thuja