Cornus capitata
I’ve but to fulfill a dogwood I don’t like, however evergreen dogwoods (Cornus capitata) have a particular place in my coronary heart.
These stately timber have foliage that persists year-round, plus superb flowers within the spring adopted by edible fruits. The evergreen dogwood hits all the appropriate notes for me.
Evergreen dogwoods can develop as much as 50 ft tall and broad, and even wider, although there are cultivated hybrids accessible in several styles and sizes.
C. capitata blooms later within the season than native dogwoods, and the species is hardy solely in Zones 8 and 9, although some subspecies are hardier.
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Whether or not you’re searching for a tree to punctuate your backyard, need a decorative that produces edible fruits, otherwise you want a cute shrub that may add long-lasting flowers to the panorama, C. capitata can do all of it.
Our information to rising dogwoods covers common care of species within the Cornus genus. This information zeros in on the evergreen species.
There’s rather a lot to know and love about this plant, so right here’s what we’ll cowl:
Evergreen dogwoods originated within the Himalayas in China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bhutan.
They’re additionally generally often known as Bentham’s cornel, Himalayan flowering dogwood, and Himalayan strawberry-tree, and have been previously categorized as Benthamidia capitata.
The elliptic or lanceolate, leathery leaves are darkish inexperienced on high, and grayish-green with a fuzzy coating made up of flattened hairs on the undersides. They are often as much as 5 inches lengthy.
Although you see it much less usually than you’d with deciduous timber, the bark is fairly, too. It’s darkish, nearly blackish-gray.
All of the younger shoots are lined in downy hairs.
Fast Look
Frequent title(s): Evergreen dogwood, Bentham’s cornel, Himalayan strawberry-tree
Plant kind: Evergreen tree or shrub
Hardiness (USDA Zone): 6-9 (relying on selection)
Native to: Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan
Bloom time / season: Spring flowers, fall fruits
Publicity: Full to half solar
Soil kind: Organically-rch, nicely draining
Soil pH: 5.5-7.0, barely acidic to impartial
Time to maturity: 10 years
Mature dimension: 20-5- ft broad x 20-50 ft excessive (relying on selection)
Finest makes use of: Chook backyard, edible, naturalized areas, shrub, specimen, groupings, woodland backyard
Taxonomy
Order: Cornales
Household: Cornaceae
Genus: Cornus
Species: Capitata
Although it’s evergreen, that doesn’t imply you’re giving up fabulous fall foliage because the leaves often flip a fairly purplish-red come autumn.
After all, a part of what we love greatest about most dogwoods are the flowers. Within the case of C. capitata, they bloom within the early summer time with white, yellow, or pale inexperienced bracts.
After the blooms fade, they’re adopted by pink, strawberry-like edible fruits.
The flavour of the fruits ranges from candy and fruity like a mango to downright bland.
I believe they’re rather a lot like persimmons in that you need to allow them to get good and ripe for one of the best taste.
After you take away the seeds, you may eat them recent or use them in sugary desserts or as an attention-grabbing addition to savory dishes like fish or pork.
The gorgeous white flowers are literally colourful bracts, that are modified leaves.
In the event you look carefully on the heart of the 4 to 6 bracts, you’ll see a cluster of dozens of tiny flowers in a hemispherical mass.
When the flowers fade, this mass turns into a small inexperienced ball that ultimately matures into the golfball-sized, purple-red berry-like fruit.
The flowers are inclined to peak in June and July and the berries are at their greatest in October or November. When they’re ripe, the birds will come visiting in droves.
The best way to Develop
Evergreen dogwoods are perfect for rising as a focus or specimen tree, however smaller cultivars work nicely in groupings.
They’re additionally ideally suited in woodland, Japanese, and English gardens. In the event you’re attempting to create a naturalized space or a bird-friendly backyard, this species needs to be high of your record.
For the reason that fruit is edible, they’re excellent for rising in meals forests and edible decorative gardens.
When evergreen dogwoods are completely happy, they’ll bloom profusely. Once they’re not, they received’t blossom nicely. That’s your trace to try to determine what’s happening.
Usually, the trigger is both temperatures which are too sizzling or too chilly, or not sufficient water.
In the appropriate circumstances, evergreen dogwoods can develop as much as three ft per 12 months, however most develop a bit slower than that.
Let’s take a look at their cultural necessities:
Local weather
Though these timber are hardy in Zones 8 and 9, they don’t sometimes do nicely within the warmth and humidity of the south.
Evergreen dogwoods work nicely as windbreaks as they aren’t prone to wind harm. They’re additionally tolerant of salty wind coming in off the ocean, so you may even develop them in coastal areas.
Whereas often evergreen, the timber would possibly drop their leaves throughout the winter within the colder finish of their hardiness vary.
In the event you stay in such an space, attempt rising your evergreen dogwood in opposition to a southern-facing brick or cement wall, which creates a microclimate and can replicate the solar’s warmth throughout the winter and preserve the tree only a bit hotter.
The leaves that change colour will sometimes drop within the spring.
Gentle
Plant your evergreen dogwood in full solar or partial solar. In sizzling climates, shade within the afternoon is a necessity.
Soil
You must also search for a spot with organically-rich, well-draining soil. Impartial to barely acidic is greatest, although they’ll tolerate a bit alkalinity. On the pH scale, purpose for five.5 to 7.0.
Keep away from planting evergreen dogwoods in heavy clay or extraordinarily sandy soil.
Water
The soil ought to keep constantly moist or simply the highest inch or two be allowed to dry out.
You’ll must pay particular consideration throughout the warmth of summer time to maintain the soil from drying out.
Fertilizing
Don’t feed younger evergreen dogwoods in any respect. They need to have all they want from the soil and we don’t wish to encourage them to develop too quickly.
After the tree has been within the floor for a 12 months or two, take a look at your soil. You would possibly discover that your soil has every thing it must preserve your vegetation completely happy.
If the soil take a look at reveals particular deficiencies, discover an acceptable fertilizer.
Use it in keeping with the producer’s instructions, or feed within the spring because the flowers bud out and once more in the summertime after flowering.
In the event you decide to skip the soil take a look at, feed within the spring and summer time with a product formulated for timber. One in every of my favorites is Right down to Earth Tree and Shrub.
It’s constituted of feather meal, fish bone, kelp meal, soybean meal, and rock phosphate with the appropriate NPK ratio of 4-2-4 for younger timber.
Right down to Earth Tree and Shrub
It additionally accommodates mycorrhizal fungi, which helps roots develop. Yow will discover Right down to Earth Tree and Shrub in five- or 25-pound packages at Arbico Organics.
Cultivars to Choose
There aren’t many evergreen dogwood cultivars on the market and just some subspecies, however for these outdoors of Zones 8 and 9, it’s undoubtedly price looking ahead to them since they’re all hardier than the species.
Chinese language
C. capitata subsp. angustata grows to about half the dimensions of the species as a big shrub or small tree.
It tops out at about 20 ft tall and broad. It may be a bit extra floriferous than the species, however moreover the dimensions and hardiness, it’s pretty comparable in all different methods.
It’s hardy in Zones 7 and up, although you may preserve it in 6b for those who plant it in opposition to a south-facing brick wall.
Happenstance
‘Happenstance’ is a formidable bloomer that’s hardy in Zones 6 to 9.
In Zone 6, it’d act as a semi-evergreen, however whatever the Zone it is going to bloom like a dream.
It’s the right dimension for a smaller backyard or perhaps a container, because it tops out at about 20 ft, although it takes many years to get there.
Mt. Emei
C. capitata subsp. emeiensis (generally referred to as C. omeiensis) is barely hardier than the species, rising in Zones 7 to 9.
The flowers are cream-colored, highlighted in opposition to leaves that emerge as copper earlier than turning inexperienced.
It’s similar to the species, so for those who stay in a colder space and lengthy to your personal evergreen dogwood, search for this one.
Mountain Moon
That is the preferred evergreen dogwood cultivar on the market and the one you’ll discover at extra shops.
That’s as a result of it’s far more cold-tolerant than the species. Plus, it maintains a pleasant dimension for many gardens, rising as much as 25 ft tall and about 15 ft broad in Zones 5 to eight.
The flowers are additionally bigger than the species, the bracts reaching as much as six inches in diameter.
Coupled with their vibrant white coloring, you might simply think about them shining vibrant like a Himalayan full moon.
The blooms can final all through late spring and nearly to midsummer.
Yoko
‘Yoko’ is a tough to search out however extraordinarily hardy cultivar, rising as much as 20 ft tall.
It thrives in Zones 6 to 9 with none hassle.
Pruning
You don’t should prune your evergreen dogwood except a department breaks otherwise you discover indicators of illness.
In any other case, be happy to go away it to its personal gadgets. In the event you actually wish to get in there and provides it some form, it responds nicely to pruning.
Prune again to the closest department or trunk wherever you wish to skinny the world out or take again some size. Don’t apply any sealant to the lower space. The tree will heal itself.
Propagation
The fruits produce seeds that you should use to propagate new evergreen dogwoods.
You can too take cuttings from current specimens. Let’s discuss seeds, first:
From Seed
In the event you’d like to start out this plant from seed, that’s actually an choice. It’ll take some time earlier than the tree matures and you may’t develop cultivars or hybrids from seed.
Nicely, you may, however they in all probability received’t develop true.
You should purchase seeds, nevertheless it’s enjoyable to attempt harvesting your personal. The seeds are on the within of the berry. There’s often one per fruit however in some circumstances there could be a number of.
When the fruits are ripe, they drop to the bottom and customarily they’ll be nabbed by animals fairly shortly.
So if you wish to harvest seeds, one of the best factor to do is shake the tree and choose up those who fall.
As a humorous apart, I’ve a rabbit that has made its residence in my yard who we’ve got named Mr. Hops.
One time once I was shaking my dogwood, he got here bounding out to seize a number of the bounty earlier than realizing I used to be there and hightailing it again to his burrow.
So, yeah. Your native wildlife loves the berries.
When you could have some ripe fruits, open them up and pull out the seeds. There might be some pulp connected. The best approach to do away with that is to toss the seeds right into a bowl of lukewarm water.
Allow them to soak in a single day after which rub the seeds in a colander to take away the remainder of the pulp.
Subsequent you may both lay them out on a cookie sheet in a cool, protected space out of direct solar and shake the tray as soon as a day to allow them to dry, or you may sow them instantly.
In the event you sow within the fall, put them within the floor a couple of quarter of an inch deep and place a bit display or different materials over the bottom to guard the seed from birds.
You can too sow within the spring, however to do that you’ll must cold-stratify the seeds within the fridge for eight weeks.
The seeds needs to be put in moist sphagnum moss in a bag or container after which positioned within the fridge. It helps to mark the date that you just put the seeds into stratification.
If you’re able to sow, put the seeds within the floor and preserve the soil moist. Inside a month, you need to see some progress starting to emerge.
You would possibly wish to put a bit wire cage across the seedling to guard it from hungry critters.
From Cuttings
Most dogwood species propagate nicely by softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings.
To do that, head outdoors throughout the spring or early summer time and lower the top off a department.
The reducing needs to be about six inches lengthy with plenty of progress. It ought to have a number of leaf nodes and the wooden needs to be pliable and in a position to bend a bit.
Make the lower with sterilized clippers just under a leaf node.
Take away all the leaves besides the highest two and dip the top in rooting hormone.
Fill a four-inch container with seed beginning medium and place the reducing an inch or two deep within the potting medium.
Place the reducing in a spot outdoor with morning mild and preserve the medium moist always.
Go away it within the rising container till the autumn after which plant your reducing within the floor a couple of weeks earlier than the primary predicted frost date.
Transplanting
You possibly can plant your evergreen dogwood within the spring or fall. Put together the bottom by digging out a gap that’s twice as broad and deep because the rising container.
Work a very good quantity of well-rotted compost or manure into the eliminated soil.
Fill within the gap leaving an area concerning the dimension of the container. Take away the tree from the container and loosen up the roots a bit.
Set the plant within the gap and backfill round it with some extra of that eliminated soil. Don’t bury the plant any deeper than it was initially.
Water the soil nicely. It’ll in all probability settle a bit and also you’ll want so as to add a bit extra soil.
Managing Pests and Illness
Anthracnose has devastated dogwood timber in some areas. However evergreen dogwoods look like immune to this horrendous illness.
In the event you’re dreaming of a dogwood and you recognize that anthracnose has been a difficulty in your space, attempt an evergreen.
You’ll in all probability have extra issues with herbivores than bugs and illness, so let’s cowl these, first.
Herbivores
Younger timber are susceptible to feeding by rabbits and deer, however older timber aren’t in any hazard.
Deer would possibly nibble a fruit or younger leaf throughout the winter, however the timber aren’t a main goal.
Simply put a bit fence or cage round younger vegetation they usually’ll be wonderful.
Bugs
Except your dogwood is confused by points like prolonged drought, overwatering, or an excessive amount of shade, pests received’t be an issue.
Whereas borers, midges, sawflies, and scale can spell catastrophe for some Cornus species, this one is essentially unbothered.
Nonetheless, you would possibly wish to familiarize your self with these dogwood pests, simply in case you ever encounter them.
Illness
The overwhelming majority of gardeners won’t ever have any illness points with an evergreen dogwood.
Nevertheless, bear in mind that leaf spot attributable to Phytophthora ramorum was present in nursery timber in California in 2023.
That possible signifies that this illness will proceed to unfold sooner or later. However for now, it’s extraordinarily uncommon.
Leaf spot causes brown, irregularly formed spots on the foliage that may be as much as a 3rd of an inch in diameter.
In the event you see these signs, contact your native college extension workplace and report the illness or usher in a pattern. Many states are fascinated with monitoring the motion of this illness.
Theoretically, all dogwoods are prone to anthracnose, however evergreen dogwoods are resistant.
They’re hardly ever troubled by the Discula destructiva fungus that may bloodbath different Cornus species. The illness reveals up as brown or tan spots with crimson or purple margins on the leaves and flowers, adopted by sunken cankers within the wooden.
In case your tree have been to be one of many uncommon ones that turns into symptomatic, you may often get on high of the illness for those who act shortly. Prune off symptomatic branches and spray liberally with liquid copper, nevertheless it’s a tricky illness to remedy.
Aside from that, as long as you didn’t plant yours in a swamp or one thing, your tree shouldn’t be topic to any ailments.
Our information to dogwood ailments makes sobering studying in case you are feeling pessimistic.
A Dogwood With Evergreen Class
Dogwoods are a few of my favourite timber. I don’t suppose a backyard is full with out at the very least one kind.
And whereas I like the extra fashionable flowering dogwood (C. florida), it simply received’t work in an space of the panorama the place I would like some evergreen colour.
However C. capitata offers me all the fantastic thing about different flowering dogwoods with out dropping its foliage within the fall.
I planted mine alongside a roadway the place I wished to extend the privateness of my yard a bit. What about you? How will you employ yours? Tell us within the feedback part beneath!
And for extra details about rising dogwoods in your panorama, have a learn of those guides subsequent:
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