Siberian dogwood may not have the showiest flowers, but it adds a nice spring color to the landscape. It is prized for its dark green summer foliage, red winter stems, and bluish-white fruit. Best suited to moist areas along a stream or pond edge and in shrub borders.
Native geographic location and habitat:
Siberian dogwood is native to Siberia, Manchuria, and northern Korea.
Attracts birds, pollinators, or wildlife:
Pollinators are attracted to flowers and birds eat the berries.
Bark color and texture:
Bark is greenish during the summer turning bright red in winter, one of its key ornamental features.
Leaf or needle arrangement, size, shape, and texture:
Opposite, elliptical leaves are 2 to 4 1/2 inches long with pointed tips. Each leaf has five to six pairs of veins. Dark green during the summer, the leaves turn reddish-purple in the fall.
Flower arrangement, shape, and size:
Yellow-white, flat-topped cymes, growing to 1 to 2 inches in diameter, bloom in May and June. They may flower sporadically into the summer.
Fruit, cone, nut, and seed descriptions:
Clusters of bluish-white fruit form in summer, but do not persist into winter.
Plant care:
For best flowering and winter color, grow in full sun. Siberian dogwood is tolerant of shade conditions and very adaptable to soil conditions, including wet soils. This dogwood will form thickets. It thrives in moist sites along ponds or river banks. To retain stems with good red color, remove a few of the oldest stems to the ground every spring.
List of pests, diseases, and tolerances:
Stem canker is common on this species, as are leaf spots.
White-Margined Siberian dogwood (Cornus alba ‘Argenteomarginata’, syn. ‘Elegantissima’):
Creamy-white variegated foliage, with showy red stems in the winter, this cultivar grows 6 to 8 feet high and wide.
Ivory Halo® Siberian dogwood (Cornus alba ‘Bailhalo’):
Variegated white and green foliage, this shrub has a rounded habit and grows 5 to 6 feet high and wide.
