Growing Flowering Dogwood
Flowering dogwood grows 15 to 30 feet tall and spreads 20 to 25 feet. The tree can be grown in sun or shade but shaded trees will be less dense, grow more quickly and have poor fall color.
Flowering dogwood prefers a rich, well drained soil and has a moderately long life. The flowers consist of 4 bracts which subtend the small head of yellow flowers. The bracts may be be pink or red but the normal color is white. The fall color depends on site and seed source but on most sun grown plants will be red to maroon. The red fruits are often eaten by birds.
Several of the cultivars listed are not readily available:
'Apple Blossom'--pink bracts; 'Cherokee Chief'- red bracts; 'Cherokee Princess'--white bracts; 'Cloud 9'-- white bracts, many blooms, flowers at early age; 'Fastigiata'--upright growth while young, spreading with age; 'First Lady'--leaves variegated with yellow turning red and maroon in the fall; 'Gigantea'--bracts 6 inches from tip of one bract to tip of opposite bract; 'Magnifica'--bracts rounded, 4" across pairs of bracts; 'multibracteata'--double flowers; 'New Hampshire'--flower buds cold hardy; 'Pendula'--weeping or drooping branches; 'Plena'--double flowers; rubra--pink bracts, 'Spring Song'--bracts rose red, 'Springtime'--bracts white, large, blooms at an early age, 'Sweetwater Red'--bracts red, 'Welchii'--leaves variegated with yellow and red, 'White Cloud'--flowers more numerous, bracts white, 'Xanthocarpa'- -fruit yellow.
