Alternate leaf Dogwood Quick Growth Guide

Photo:

peganum from Small Dole, England, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Alternate leaf dogwood has, as one would expect, alternate leaves, which turn to maroon foliage in the fall. When it is not competing with nearby trees or buildings, its branches will tier or layer horizontally, giving the appearance of a layered tierred pagoda with upturned branches. It has a fibrous, spreading root system and prefers a cool root zone. This dogwood can reach a height of 15 to 25 feet. It grows in both moist and dry forests, as well as forest margins, stream banks, and fields.

In Hardiness zone 5, it fruit will typically mature around august first, at which time a feeding frenzy by Cow Birds might be obeserved.

Quick Growing Guide

Botanical Name: Cornus alternifolia

Also Called: Pagoda Dogwood

En français: Cornouiller à feuilles alterne

Colour:

Blooms:

Water: Low water requirement

Pollinators:

Hardiness Zones:

This alternate leaf dogwood should be pruned every few years as branches tend to grow into available space, perhaps distorting the trees natural shape (of looking like a layered pagoda)

Provides cover and nesting sites. Dry, bitter berries are winter food for birds and mammals. Larval food source for Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta).

Its natural habitat: Understory of deciduous forests, thickets, open woods, hillsides and ravine slopes, along streams.

Comments

Leave a Reply

More From Gardening Calendar

8 "Nos" for The Vegetable Garden

Learn the 5 most common mistakes gardeners make & how to avoid them; from over fertilizing to over watering. Get guidance on why to avoid synthetic fertilizers, how best to amend soil, & more!

Dense Blazing Star

Dense Blazing Star has purple wands of packed blooms that face all directions and bloom from the top of the stem down from midsummer to fall.

Starting Tomatoes

All the tomatoes that I am growing, Yellow Pear, Pink Ponderosa, Polish Raspberry, Black Krim, Red Currant, are heirloom and indeterminate.