No wonder the dogwood is Miss Popularity. America's favorite flowering tree is both beautiful and compact; it looks comfortable in any city garden.
Of dogwood's 60 or so species, the most common spring-flowering trees fall into three camps. Cornus florida and Cornus Nuttallii cultivars are native to the East Coast but susceptible to fungus; Cornus kousa varieties from Japan owe their growing popularity to their disease free and drought tolerant natures.
Here are seven ways to use a flowering dogwood to greatest effect:
As a Shade Canopy
Above: A dogwood tree arches over a Park Slope townhouse garden formerly owned by J. Crew's Jenna Lyons. Photograph via Marcus Design.
Above: Photograph by Geeg Johnson via Flickr.
For a true-pink flower tinged with white, consider Cornus florida 'Cherokee Chief' or one of its close relatives. The best known red cultivar, Cherokee Chief was discovered in Tennessee (and has been cultivated for sale since the mid 1950s). Other similar red varieties include Cherokee Brave and Cherokee Sunset.
As a Punctuation Mark
Above: A Cherokee dogwood is underplanted with spring bulbs in a Brooklyn backyard. Photograph by Maggie McGuire.
A bright pink dogwood tree against a green backdrop is enough to make you think the whole garden is in bloom.
As a Screen
Above: A Cornus florida in a garden on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Photograph via Kristofer Ong.
With its diminutive height and spreading branches—most mature trees range from 10 to 30 feet, depending on the cultivar—a dogwood is the right size to provide a privacy screen at the edge of a patio or garden.
Above: Photograph via Garden Coach Pictures.
Cornus florida cultivars have fat, notched petals. Commonly called Eastern dogwood trees, they bloom in colors that range from white to deep red.
On a Terrace
Above: A potted dogwood tree on a terrace on East 61st Street; garden designed by Alive Structures. For more, see Design Sleuth: Dogwood on Your Terrace.
Cornus florida rubra, a pink flowering dogwood, was not meant for a container. To convince it otherwise, start with a small tree—from 3 to 4 feet tall, say—and plant it in a pot that's at least three times as big around as its root ball. "In the beginning, it will need a lot of water," warns garden designer Marni Majorelle, who used one on the terrace shown above.
Near Power Lines
Above: A white dogwood tree flowers against the facade of a Prospect Heights brownstone in Brooklyn. Photograph by Christopher Eliot via Flickr.
A dogwood tree's small stature will keep it from growing into (and getting tangled in) power lines.
In a Tiny Front Yard
Above: Photograph by Gmpicket via Flickr.
Most members of the dogwood family are shrubs, not trees, and even the tallest cultivars are comfortable in a small city garden.
To Prevent Pink Clashes
Above: A pink magnolia (L), white kousa dogwood, and pink cherry tree flower in garden designer Catherine Fitzsimons' Brooklyn Heights backyard. Photograph via New York Times.
Dogwood will flower in step with spring fruit trees. If you have two varieties of cherry tree—or a cherry and a crabapple—plant a small white dogwood in the middle to unify the sorbet color scheme.
Above: Cornus kousa 'Summer Stars' was discovered growing on Long Island in 1964 and has since become a common cultivar. In addition to being disease resistant and drought tolerant, it produces a blizzard of white blooms in spring. Photograph via Flickr.
Kousa dogwoods from Japan arrived in the United States in the early 1860s and are distinguished by their sharp, pointed petals.
For more spring flowering trees, see:
- The Bronx Goes Native: A Visit to the NY Botanical Garden.
- Spring Comes to San Francisco's Botanical Garden.
- Required Reading: Prince Charles and his Highgrove Garden.
More Stories from Gardenista