QA

Question: How To Plant Red Twig Dogwood

How do you plant a red twig dogwood?

Dogwood shrubs can be grown in full sun or part shade. A minimum of 4 to 5 hours of direct sunlight is recommended for best foliage density, bark color, and flowering. Start by digging your planting hole at least two to three times as wide and no deeper than the rootball of your Dogwood shrub.

How far apart should I plant red twig dogwood?

Their mature size is between 8-10 feet, therefore I would space them 4.5 feet apart, and use 11 shrubs. I used half of the average of the mature width to arrive at this spacing.

When should I plant red twig dogwood?

Dogwood shrubs are normally planted as nursery-grown container plants or ball-and-burlap specimens in the fall or in the early spring. While many dogwoods are rather slow-growing plants, red twig dogwoods are among the faster-growing types. You can expect the plants to add at least 2 feet of growth each year.

How do you plant dogwood shrubs?

Grow dogwood shrubs in full sun or part shade and moist soil. Many dogwood shrubs grow well in soil that is wet for short periods during the growing season, which makes them suitable for rain gardens and low spots in the landscape. Silky and red osier dogwoods are especially tolerant of consistently moist soil.

What does red twig dogwood look like in summer?

Red twig dogwood grows as clump that can become up to 10 feet in diameter, expanding gradually by producing root suckers. The plant flowers in summer with small clusters of fragrant white flowers, followed by bluish-white berries that attract birds.

Do red twig dogwoods spread?

When planting red twig dogwoods, give them plenty of room. They grow up to 8 feet (2.5 m.) tall with an 8 foot (2.5 m.) spread.

Where is the best place to plant a dogwood bush?

Choose a site for your dogwoods that is well-drained but does not get extremely dry. Soil high in organic matter is best. Dogwoods can be planted in full sun or partial shade, though partial shade is best (morning sun in particular). Dogwoods are typically an understory tree in the wild.

How do you fertilize a red twig dogwood?

Fertilizing: We recommend you fertilize all your shrubs, evergreens, trees, groundcover, and perennials once every 3 weeks. This should be done during the months of April, May, June, July, and August. We suggest you use Miracle-Gro, a water-soluble fertilizer, or Milorganite, a granular fertilizer.

How fast do red twig dogwoods grow?

This shrub grows at a fast rate, with height increases of more than 24″ per year.

Is red twig dogwood poisonous to dogs?

There are no species of dogwood trees or shrubs (Cornus spp.) that have been reported to be toxic to dogs.

Do red twig dogwoods need a lot of water?

Watering Requirement With respect to watering needs, Red Twig Dogwood is a susceptible plant. As they prefer moist areas, they are hydrophilic species. Just after you have planted it, its water requirement is at its peak. However, in the absence of rain, they should be watered enough to keep them moist.

What can I plant under red twig dogwood?

Suitable Companion Shrubs Red twig dogwood’s bright red winter color really sings when it’s planted near yellow-tinged evergreens such as American arborvitae (​Thuja occidentalis​, USDA zones 2-7) and Chinese juniper (​Juniperus chinensis​, USDA zones 4-9), both of which grow well in damp soil that’s well-drained.

How quickly do dogwoods grow?

White dogwood trees grow to be 15-25 feet tall, with a spread of 20-25 feet. They grow at a slow-moderate rate of 1-2 feet per year.

How far apart should you plant dogwood shrubs?

The dogwood’s diminutive size lets you plant multiple trees closer together than you would larger species. University of Missouri Extension recommends spacing dogwoods at least 20 feet apart and locating them no closer than 6 feet to any buildings.

What can I plant with dogwood shrubs?

Choose woodland-origin, shallow-rooted spring-blooming perennials, like cranesbill (Geranium maculatum), sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), dead nettle (Lamium maculatum) and astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii), rather than more aggressive woody shrubs to add more flowers when your dogwood is in bloom.

What does red twig dogwood look like in spring?

The shrub produces creamy-white flowers in spring and berries that ripen from green to white by fall. But it’s the stems of the red twig dogwood that are so popular; they start out green in spring and summer, then turn bright red as their foliage drops off in autumn.

What eats red twig dogwood?

Dogwood Sawfly Damage Dogwood sawflies feed on the leaves of several shrubby dogwood species including gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa), blood-twig dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) and red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea). The larvae have chewing mouthparts that create sizable holes in leaves.

How do you use the red twig dogwood in the landscape?

My favorite design using red-twig dogwood is to place several good-sized rocks or boulders around the shrub’s base and plant winter bulbs in the gaps between the shrub and the rocks.

Is red twig dogwood deer resistant?

Additionally, the Red Twig Dogwood is deer resistant. This in itself makes for a great contender to our “plants we love” list, due to the fact that we know so many gardeners and landscapes that are frequented by many deer.

Which red twig dogwood is best?

My favorite of the bunch is the blood-twig dogwood variety ‘Midwinter Fire. ‘ It has two-tone yellow and red winter stems that practically glow and was good enough to earn a Gold Medal Award from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. ‘Cardinal’ and ‘Arctic Fire’ are two good varieties of native red osier dogwood.

Do birds like red twig dogwood?

Red Twig Dogwood doesn’t just appeal to humans. Birds and small mammals love the berries and the leaves alone provide for over 100 species of butterflies and moths.