Why do I like Red Twig Dogwoods (Cornus sericea or Cornus stolonifera)? If you look in the picture below the reason should become red-ily apparent. The multibranched shrubs stand out with a bright red coloring that looks fantastic in the wintertime. When the trees are bereft of leaves and the stems are left, the red twigs won’t disappoint for winter color.
These particular plants are in a nursery and unfortunately not in my garden but one day our little red twig dogwoods will grow into fine landscape specimens! Red twig dogwoods flower in the spring, exhibit a lush canopy of green in the summer, display berries in the summer and fall, change colors with other deciduous trees and shrubs, and show their characteristic bright red stem display in the winter. It’s truly a plant with four season interest but most people, including myself, love it for the red stems. The stems will eventually fade from being the bright red and will change into a brown color. An occasional pruning of the older stems will force new stems to grow which will turn red for the fall. These shrubs sucker readily and grow fairly fast which makes them fun for propagating! They like moist locations but do well in a range of soils in zones 3-8.
So Why Do I Like Them?
- Four Season Interest
- Bright Red Stems
- Spring Flowers
- Easy to Propagate by cuttings!
Related Posts:
10 Easy Plants to Propagate for Your Home Garden
Red Twig Dogwood Propagation
A Plant for Winter Interest
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Very nice color!
I just recently noticed these on another post, red sticking out of the snow, so eye catching. I would be testing the zones if I planted here I think. Wonder if it’s worth a try? Thanks for the information.
They are very attractive Dave. Another great specimen for winter interest in the garden. Thanks for the info!
Completely agree with you take on these beautiful shrubs. I used about 25 of them (now about six ft. tall) to separate my backyard property line from the adjacent cornfield. The birds love them as well.
One of my favorites too Dave.
Count me as one who likes them too! They are on my list for the new home.
They are lovely shrubs…sometimes I wish for a snowfall to catch one or two shots of them against the snow!
Have a good weekend~~
Gail
Lovely shrubs. The red is outstanding. Wonder if they would do good here. Will have to check it out.
That red is really striking. I hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving. I’m just catching up on my reading now 🙂
I also love the red-twig dogwood, for all the reasons you give, plus that they grow pretty fast, are fairly easy to prune, and I just love the white flower clusters!
~ Monica