Description
Red Osier Dogwood is an excellent hedgerow plant. Once established, branches will fall to the ground and take root. A dense hedge is created top down rather than by root suckers. It is a spreader, but a slow spreader and manageable with pruning.
Pruning should be done when the shrub is dormant and just in time for festive fall and winter table settings, wreaths and sprays. The shock of red color stands out in baskets and wreathes.
These plants are grown from locally harvested cuttings rather than seed.
Does best in riparian or other sites that are wet from time to time throughout the year. It is understory dominant in many riparian forest, woodland, and Eastern forest types which include:
- balsam fir (Abies balsamea)
- black spruce (Picea mariana)
- tamarack (Larix laricina)
- bigtooth aspen and quaking aspen (Populus grandidentata and P. tremuloides)
- northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis)
- black ash (Fraxinus nigra)-American elm-red maple (Acer rubrum)
resource: USDA Fire Effects Information System – Cornus serica