Gardening

Winter Dogwoods

In winter after leaves have dropped and plants have been cut back and tidied, the bare bones of the garden come to the fore and add shape and sometimes colour in the low angled sun. Few shrubs add more colour than the Winter Dogwoods.

The young stems are highly coloured red, yellow, orange, almost black and lime green depending on variety, creating a stunning display through the winter months. The autumn display of colouring leaves is almost as striking with red, orange and gold tones clothing the stems in October before they fall.

These are shrubs that form good sized clumps over the years in sun or light shade. Unpruned they will grow into medium to large shrubs about 5-8ft / 150-240cm tall, but to enjoy their most vivid colours it’s best to cut off a third to a half of the older stems nearly to the ground in late winter before new growth starts. Lots of new, vigorous, straight stems will start to grow providing a blazing display by the next winter. This will keep the plants to three foot / 90cm in height.

The best known variety is ‘Siberica’ with bright red stems and vigorous growth looking brilliant against winter skies. The lime green ‘Flaviramea’ is equally as striking. For the most intense flaming orange stems the varieties of Cornus sanguinea outshine everything else: ‘Midwinter Fire’ and ‘Winter Flame’ are both very good. Darker red is ‘Elegantissima,’ but for almost black stems ‘Kesselringii’ is the popular choice and looks wonderful in winter mixed with the brighter coloured varieties especially the green “Flaviramea” or perhaps planted with the white barked Himalayan Birch. Dogwoods also have white flowers in summer and unpruned bushes produce white, pale purple or bluish berries in autumn that provide a good food source for birds.They are best in soil that isn't too boggy. In a border, plant them around 3ft / 1m apart. They also make good informal hedges at 2ft / 60cm gaps. Dogwoods are one of the stars of the winter garden and whether planted in drifts or lines or just a single plant they’re sure to give you joy in the dark days of winter.

Janet and I organise Plant Hunters’ Fairs, specialist plant fairs at wonderful locations.

Dates for your diary: Sugnall Walled Garden, near Eccleshall on Saturday, April 2; Capesthorne Hall and Gardens, Macclesfield on Sunday, April 10; Dorothy Clive Gardens on Sunday, April 17 and Monday, April 18; Cholmondeley Castle Gardens on Sunday, April 24, and Adlington Hall Gardens, Macclesfield on Sunday, May 8.

Please see www.planthuntersfairs.co.uk for a full list of all our 2022 plant fairs.

Martin Blow