How to Grow Wedding Cake Dogwood (Giant Dogwood)

Cornus controversa

Big, desk, or marriage ceremony cake dogwoods command consideration within the panorama.

With their layered branches and profuse blossoms, it’s laborious to take a look at the rest, and when you have the variegated sort, it’s much more dramatic.

Big dogwoods develop indigenously in temperate areas of China, Japan, Korea, Nepal, and Vietnam, however they’re cultivated all through the world.

And as long as you reside within the applicable local weather of USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 9, they’re fairly easygoing.

Regardless of one among their frequent names being “large,” desk dogwoods aren’t essentially big, both, topping out at 50 ft tall or much less.

In our information to rising dogwoods, we cowl learn how to domesticate species within the Cornus genus.

Coming proper up we’re going to speak all issues desk, large, or marriage ceremony cake dogwood. Right here’s what’s on the agenda:

Desk dogwoods are fast rising deciduous bushes, so you may get pleasure from their statuesque, layered show in a comparatively quick time frame of about 10 years.

What makes them stand out is the tiered progress behavior, with the a number of layers of branches inspiring the frequent names “marriage ceremony cake” and “desk.”

The leaves are inexperienced on high and silver-green on the undersides.

Not like all different Cornus species besides C. alternifolia, the pagoda dogwood, the leaves are alternate quite than paired.

These open up in late spring or early summer time, relying on the place you reside.

The flowers persist for a couple of weeks after which fade, giving strategy to fruits that can ultimately mature into darkish purple or black within the early fall.

In 1890, the well-known Veitch Nursery in Exeter, England began promoting the variegated type of the plant. Whereas the species is a stunner, the variegated sort is breathtaking.

C. controversa ‘Variegata’ is extra frequent even than the species, and it’s apparent why.

It’s a stunner. The leaves have cream to silver margins and these margins flip to vibrant yellow within the fall whereas the remainder of the leaf takes on a pink hue.

‘Variegata’ is extra slow-growing than the species and matures at about 25 ft tall, making it a superb possibility for smaller areas.

This cultivar received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Backyard Benefit in 1993.

Prepared to incorporate one among these beauties in your panorama? Let’s take a look at their care wants:

The way to Develop

To transplant a sapling from the nursery, dig a gap thrice as vast and deep because the rising container and work equal elements well-rotted compost into the soil that you just eliminated and put all of it again within the gap.

Make a gap within the center that’s only a bit wider than the container the plant is presently rising in. Take away the plant from the container and gently loosen up the roots.

Set the dogwood within the gap and fill in round it with the compost soil combination. The plant needs to be sitting on the similar peak it was within the rising container.

Water the soil and add a bit extra if it settles.

Mild

Develop large dogwood in full or partial solar. Those that stay in sizzling climates ought to undoubtedly present some afternoon shade, because the bushes don’t do properly in extreme warmth.

The variegated cultivar will be grown in partial shade, which can preserve the variegation good and distinct and encourages the layered formation.

Temperature

Hardy in Zones 5 to 9, marriage ceremony cake bushes don’t do properly in very popular southern climates. They get pleasure from cool summers like what you’ll find within the Pacific Northwest.

Soil

The soil must be organically-rich and well-draining, and ideally a bit bit acidic to impartial with a pH between 5.0 to 7.5.

It may be barely sandy or barely clay, however nothing too excessive.

Water

Big dogwoods like a variety of water, although they’ll tolerate some drought as soon as established.

Attempt to preserve the soil constantly moist, however you may enable the highest few inches of soil to dry out between waterings Intention for the feel of a well-wrung-out sponge.

Mulch recurrently to take care of an inch or two of fir bark or well-rotted compost over the foundation zone however three to 6 inches away from the trunk.

Mulch will assist preserve the roots cool and retain the moisture within the soil.

Fertilizing

You shouldn’t must fertilize a longtime specimen in any respect. In case your soil may be very poor youcan present some further vitamins through the first few years whereas the tree is younger.

I extremely encourage you to do a soil check, as that’s the one strategy to know what your soil is missing and what it’s worthwhile to amend it with.

Any good soil check will inform you the place you soil is poor and can present recommendations about learn how to enhance it.

Comply with the outcomes of your soil check once you add amendments.

The place to Purchase

Whereas not as straightforward to search out because the extra frequent flowering dogwood, you may typically purchase saplings at your native backyard heart or plant nursery.

You might even see desk dogwoods listed as Swida controversa, as Swida is a synonym for Cornus and is now thought-about a defunct genus.

Upkeep

Relying on the look you need and whether or not you need to have the ability to stroll or sit beneath the desk dogwood tree, you would possibly must prune off the decrease branches.

The tree will typically develop with branches reaching virtually to the bottom if left to its personal units.

However some gardeners desire it to have a extra conventional cover that begins six ft or so above the bottom.

Take away the branches on the trunk by chopping at a slight angle. You need the department collar, which is the swollen space on the underside of the department the place it meets the trunk, to stay in place.

Bushes develop to finest reap the benefits of the accessible gentle and accommodate any common winds, it’s finest to permit the dogwood to develop naturally.

Pruning needs to be executed within the early spring after the wooden has thawed, however if you happen to see diseased, deformed, or damaged branches, be at liberty to prune them anytime.

Propagation

As a result of these bushes could be a little laborious to search out available on the market, plenty of gardeners decide to develop theirs from seed or by way of stem cuttings from an present tree.

Thankfully, each these propagation strategies are dependable. You may also graft these bushes, however that’s finest left to the consultants.

From Seed

In the summertime, after the blooms fade, the bushes will develop small berries, generally known as drupes.

When the birds begin consuming them and they’re darkish and squishy is often after they’re ripe sufficient to reap.

Pry them open and take away the seeds, then soak in water for twenty-four hours and rub them on a towel to take away the pulp.

At this level, you may both sow the seeds within the floor or put them in moist sphagnum moss and preserve them within the fridge for 3 months.

Placing them within the fridge mimics the chilly stratification that occurs naturally over the winter months.

You possibly can amend your soil with plenty of well-rotted compost, but it surely’s not essential.

Should you desire to start out the seeds indoors in spring, preserve your seeds within the fridge for 3 months. Whereas they’re in there, preserve the moss moist however not soaking moist.

Should you discover any mould forming, dip the seeds in a 20 p.c bleach resolution after which place them in recent moss. After three months, take away them from the fridge and soak them for twenty-four hours in a bowl of water.

Fill six-inch pots with potting combine and place two seeds within the heart of every container a half to quarter inch deep.

Place the pots in an space with no less than 4 hours of direct daylight and preserve the potting soil evenly moist.

The seeds don’t want gentle to germinate however a sunny location supplies a lot wanted heat. It may possibly take as much as a month for the seeds to germinate.

When the infant plant is no less than six inches tall and the final frost of the yr has handed within the spring, harden off the seedling over the course of per week earlier than transplanting.

From Stem Cuttings

Dogwoods are straightforward to develop from stem cuttings as they root readily.

Wait till the late winter or early spring when the buds are beginning to swell however haven’t opened.

1. Minimize a six- to 12-inch size of sentimental, pliable stem. Make your reduce slightly below a leaf node at a 45-degree angle.
2. Fill a transparent glass container like a canning jar with about three inches of water. Place the cuttings within the container and set it in a spot with plenty of vibrant, oblique gentle.
3. Change the water each three days.
4. When the cuttings have a number of inches of roots, you may transfer them into particular person six-inch pots crammed with potting combine.
5. Bury the cuttings three or 4 inches deep and agency the medium up across the stems. Moisten the soil and preserve it evenly moist.
6. Place the cuttings in a spot with no less than 4 hours of direct daylight, both indoors or out if the climate permits.

When the leaves emerge and absolutely open, you may harden off the cuttings if you happen to have been rising them inside earlier than transplanting.

Managing Pests and Illness

Supplied that you just develop your tree in an applicable spot and provides it the situations it prefers, it’s unlikely that you just’ll ever have any points with pests or illness.

Confused crops are vulnerable to the next:

Bugs

There are quite a few pests that hassle dogwoods, however for probably the most half, in case your tree is wholesome an infestation received’t essentially spell catastrophe. That’s very true if you happen to catch the difficulty early on.

This causes yellowing leaves and stunted progress. Our information to controlling scale has extra data.

There are additionally a number of sorts of borers that favor dogwoods. Dogwood borers, the larvae of Synanthedon scitula, burrow into the wooden and feed. This causes leaf drop and twig loss of life.

Dogwood twig borers (Oberea tripunctata) feed on younger twigs, inflicting tip loss of life and leaf drop.

Flatheaded appletree borers (Chrysobothris femorata) chew via the bark and cambium layer, girdling the tree and inflicting tissue die off anyplace they feed.

Be taught all about dogwood pests and learn how to handle them right here.

Illness

Marriage ceremony cake dogwoods are immune to twig blight, which is an issue for a lot of Cornus species.

There are two kinds of anthracnose that hassle many dogwoods. These are discula and spot anthracnose, attributable to the fungus Discula destructiva and Elsinoe corni respectively.

Lastly, there’s powdery mildew. Just like the powdery mildew that assaults your cucurbits through the summer time, it causes a powdery coating on the leaves.

It’s attributable to the fungi Erysiphe pulchra or Phyllactinia guttata.

Find out about all these and learn how to take care of them in our information to dogwood ailments.

A Big Marriage ceremony Cake

Desk dogwoods are stately beauties that command consideration, however they don’t demand a variety of upkeep in return.

They’re fairly straightforward to look after however their tiered progress behavior appears to be like like one thing you’d must spend hours pruning!

Are you rising desk dogwood? Do you’ve the variegated selection or the species plant? Tell us within the feedback part beneath!

And if you happen to’d prefer to learn extra in regards to the Cornus genus, why not add these guides to your studying record subsequent: