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When is red twig dogwood not a red twig dogwood

13 years ago

Okay was at a friend's house and she was showing me dogwood shrub collection. She has a variegated dogwood shrub which I had never seen before. She was told it would get no bigger then 4 ft. I was like okay, I had never heard of one that small before. Then she show me a two red twig dogwoods only none of the stems were red. I thought that was strange because I have one and the stems are red. So is it possible to have a non red, red twig dogwood?

Comments (4)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
13 years ago
The older the stems, the less red. Pruning out the old rejuvinates the red. Were there any new shoots not red?

tj
mori1
Original Author
13 years ago
The shrubs are only a year old and no red. Mine is at least 6 years old and with mostly red stems.
prairiegirlz5
13 years ago
They don't stay 4 feet tall, that's for sure. I have three Alleman's Compact that are now 4 1/2 feet tall, they have green stems until fall when the stems darken to red. Even if you coppice them, the stems are green in summer.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
13 years ago
There are several quite dwarf cultivars, C. sericea 'Kelseyi' being one of the smallest........it seldom exceeds 3'. And just as there are wide variations in height/size of the various cultivars, there is a wide variation in the degree of stem color. FWIW, stem color tends to be less distinct during the growing season and with the most intense color in winter or while the plant is dormant.

There are also shrub dogwood (C. sericea or alba) cultivars that have green, gold or orange stems - not all are red.

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