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Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Native Plants < Native Plant Database < Cornus florida
Flowering dogwood is probably the most popular ornamental tree in the Southeast—and with good reason: It provides extraordinary beauty in all four seasons. Of course, its spring flower show is unparalleled; blooming trees look like low-floating clouds or, in the twilight, like ghostly apparitions. Summer brings plenty of shady, lush green leaves. In fall, the leaves turn red and purple and small football-shaped fruits ripen from green to shiny lipstick-red. Don’t dread the long, leafless months of winter—here’s your chance to enjoy flowering dogwood’s lovely pagoda-like branching structure, interesting alligator-skin bark, and little pearly buds. Appreciate this classic tree for its beauty—and for its benefits to wildlife. The fruits are high in lipids (fat), making them ideal food for migrating birds.
Cornaceae (Dogwood Family)
Small deciduous tree with opposite, smooth-edged, oval-shaped leaves 3 to 6 inches in length. In spring, small clusters of tiny yellow flowers are surrounded by showy 2-inch white bracts with notched tips. Small, tight bunches of quarter-inch drupes turn red in fall. Fall leaf color is red and purple.
20 to 30 feet high and wide.
Moderate.
The trunk is short and the crown is full and rounded. Branching is horizontal and often occurs in layers or tiers.
Part shade. The ideal planting spot receives morning sun but is shaded in the afternoon.
Transplant in early spring into loose, moist, well-drained, acid soil. Place the roots high in the planting hole and mulch well. To protect against dogwood anthracnose disease, which thrives in cool, moist conditions, make sure your dogwood has good air circulation and receives at least a half-day of sunlight. Remember that flowering dogwood has a shallow root system and may need supplemental water in times of prolonged drought.
A year-round beauty, flowering dogwood features pale gray, button-like flower buds in winter, showy white bracts in spring, lush green leaves in summer, and shiny red fruits and reddish purple leaves in fall.
Plant as a specimen or in groups. Flowering dogwood is especially effective along a woodland edge or in combination with redbud, which blooms at the same time but in bright pink.
Small mammals and over 75 species of birds eat the fruits.
Found throughout Georgia in the understory of hardwood forests and along forest edges. It occurs both on upland sites and in mesic areas along streams.
Seed, hardwood and softwood cuttings.
Text and photo by Leslie Kimel, Georgia Wildlife Federation
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Flowering Dogwood
