RED OZIER DOGWOOD

RED OZIER DOGWOOD FALL FRUITS

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...UMBELS OF SMALL WHITE FLOWERS...

...BLOOD-RED YOUNG TWIGS AND OPPOSITE LEAVES AND BRANCHES

Saturday, 8:00 AM.  44 degrees F at the ferry dock, 42 on the back porch.  Wind NE, mostly calm.  The sky is cloudy and overcast, the humidity 67%.  The barometer is taking a nosedive, now at 30.23".  Highs today and tomorrow in the mid-50's.  Rain tonight, then clearing and warming some next week.  Fall color is at its peak but should last a long time.

    The native red twigged dogwood,  Cornus stolonifera, in the Dogwood Family, is a shrub common to much of North America, and is usually found in damp places, on the edges of streams and lakes, and roadside ditches.  It is used in landscaping because of its blood-red young twigs, but as its species name indicates it spreads by stolens, and can become very invasive in the small landscape. It also blooms well,  has good, deep purple  fall leaf color, and attractive white berries (the berries are not poisonous, but are very bitter). There are varieties that spread less easily, and those are probably better used for most landscaping purposes.  

   The dogwood species in general are interesting and colorful trees and shrubs and many should be used more for ornamental purposes.  Almost all dogwood species have opposite leaves and branches and simple, entire leaves, and these are good clues to use in their identification.  The native round leaved dogwood, Cornus rotundifolia, is also very colorful but somewhat larger and not as invasive, and is a great landscape plant where there is room for it.

   Many dogwood species and varieties are of European or Oriental derivation, including popular variegated varieties of Cornus alba, so if one wishes to use only native plants in a landscape some dogwoods are not appropriate.
   For more information on dogwoods, use the blog search engine.