racemosa - Gray Dogwood () ------Cornus racemosa is a spreading, dense, stoloniferous Fruits . Subtly attractive in flower, fruit, and fruiting -creamy white (rarely porcelain blue) round 0.25" stalk, and tolerant of wet or dry sites, Gray Dogwood fruits mature in clusters in Aug. and Sept. is a multi-season interest . This highly adaptable -fruits are not persistent due to rapid abscission and shrub is ideally suited for wet sites, dry sites, natural- bird/squirrel feeding, but the persistent bright red ized areas, neglected areas, borders, embankments, or hemispherical pedicels (fruiting stalks) retain their mass plantings, in sunny to shady sites color into early winter and have a long-lasting appeal . Twigs FEATURES -very thin stems are dark red to purplish-red Form -buds are lighter-colored and very small -medium- to large-sized Trunk deciduous shrub, or small -dense multi-stemmed forms (the normal situation) do single- to multi-trunked not form sufficient caliper on individual stems to deciduous ornamental tree become trunks, but individual pruned to a few -the true multi-stemmed shrub stems develop into several prominent trunks that arch form often matures at 8' tall x 8' with age wide, but if culturally pruned -bark changes from reddish-brown to gray (hence the and maintained to a few stems, common name) with age, with the bark becoming these become arching trunks broken into distinctly square blocks, very much like whose canopy can reach 15' tall x 15' wide Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) in bark -the shrub form tends to sucker so profusely that it appearance. forms colonies that are excellent for naturalized areas or for embankments in need of erosion control USAGE -shrub forms have an upright clump growth habit in Function youth, becoming either a spreading mound or open -shrub form is useful for mass plantings, borders, and straggly with age embankments, non-thorny informal barrier hedges, -tree forms are also available (from seedling wildlife attraction, naturalization, and at the edge of selections) which do not sucker from the base, having bodies of water one to several trunks -tree form is useful for foundations, entranceways, -tree forms have an upright oval growth habit in borders or as a specimen youth, becoming rounded with age Texture -slow to medium growth rate (except for rapid- -fine texture in foliage and when bare growing suckers that arise from the base of -thick density in foliage and medium to thick density established shrubs) when bare Culture Assets -full sun to full shade; performs best in full sun to -suckering and dense shrub habit is excellent for partial sun embankment erosion control or in naturalized areas -prefers moist, well-drained soils but is adaptable to -single- or multi-trunked tree forms are fine many adverse conditions, including poor soils, dry ornamental trees that are underutilized in the modern soils, or wet soils landscape -propagated by rooted cuttings or by seeds -early summer creamy-white -Dogwood Family, with few disease or pest problems -late summer white or porcelain blue fruits -moderate availability, in B&B or container form -persistent red fruit stalks are attractive into early -somewhat sensitive to being transplanted in autumn winter (less so for containerized ), and care should be -adaptable to wet or dry sites and poor soils taken to amend the soil, fertilize, water thoroughly, Liabilities mulch liberally, and avoid winter salt spray, to -dense shrub form often gets out of hand due to enhance winter survival straggliness and suckering with age (this can be Foliage remedied by rejuvenation pruning to the ground) -medium green to gray- Habitat green leaves are about 3" -Zones 5 to 8 long -Native to Eastern and Midwestern U.S. and Southern -opposite, narrow Canada elliptical, and acuminate, with major leaf veins SELECTIONS parallel to the curving leaf Alternates margins -shrubs tolerant of dry or wet sites -autumn color is a mixture -naturalizing or erosion control shrubs of green, purple, and red -shrubs for winter interest in Oct. and is usually not -dense shrubs of medium size with good floral and showy fruit character Flowers Variants -creamy hemispherical -Cornus racemosa, although rarely sold in "tree form" inflorescences are up to (that is, as a single- or multi-trunked non-suckering 2" in diameter, effective form), can be a handsome small ornamental tree, good for 1 week in late May or for foundations, entranceways, borders, or as a early June specimen