Cornus amomum
For those who’re trying to find a plant to brighten up a very soggy spot in your yard, contemplate silky dogwood (Cornus amomum).
This species is chilly hardy, remarkably pest and illness resistant, and really simple to develop.
So long as you possibly can present full solar and constant moisture, this unfussy, medium-sized native shrub would possibly simply be proper on your panorama.
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Silky dogwood is discovered rising wild in moist areas as far north as Ontario and Maine and south via Missouri and Florida.
Thriving in common to wealthy, damp, freely draining soil, C. amomum naturally happens in swamps, floodplains, wetlands, and round streams and ponds.
In our information to rising dogwood, we introduce the Cornus genus and the big variety of various species.
This information focuses on silky dogwood, a local, low-maintenance shrub.
Right here’s what I’ll cowl:
Rising as much as 12 ft excessive and 6 ft large, this shrub can seem considerably gangly and unkempt.
Spreading pretty quickly, silky dogwood typically produces roots the place low branches contact moist soil, creating dense thickets.
Leaves are pretty nondescript, oval-shaped, sporting the looping venation attribute of many Cornus species. The furry undersides of the leaves are what give the plant its widespread title.
In Could and June, clusters of small, creamy white or yellowish blossoms adorn the plant, attracting a wide range of bugs from bees to butterflies.
In the direction of the tip of summer time and starting of fall, pollinated flowers give option to cobalt blue berries.
That is undoubtedly when silky dogwood is at its most decorative – when a little bit early fall shade comes creeping into the leaves and highlights the wealthy, darkish, clusters of berries.
Fast Look
Widespread title(s): Silky or swamp dogwood
Plant sort: Woody shrub
Hardiness (USDA Zone): 5-8
Native to: North America
Bloom time / season: Spring flowers, fall berries
Publicity: Full to half solar
Soil sort: Moist, fertile, well-draining
Soil pH: 5.5-7.0, barely acidic to impartial
Time to maturity: 5 years
Mature dimension: 6-12 ft large x 12 ft excessive
Finest makes use of: Erosion management, wetland plant, windbreak, wildlife backyard
Taxonomy
Order: Cornales
Household: Cornaceae
Genus: Cornus
Species: Amomum
Hardy in Zones 5 to eight, C. amomum can stand up to all however probably the most frigid of situations.
It’s additionally fairly pleased with a little bit of flooding or to dry out once in a while. Silky dogwood is resilient, enticing, and ecologically vital.
Given loads of water, sunshine and room to develop, this hardworking plant can pay its means, attracting hordes of pollinators in summer time and flocks of birds within the fall.
How one can Develop
The true great thing about this North American shrub is its skill to provide blossoms, fruit, and entice wildlife with out you having to raise a finger.
Plant it someplace you don’t have to fret about watering and easily sit again and let it run wild.
This versatile wetland species doesn’t require fertilization and wishes no pruning, both.
The principle elements it’s good to develop a hearty, blissful, silky dogwood are solar, fertile soil, and water.
Gentle
Silky dogwood prefers a full solar to partial shade location. It could possibly tolerate a good bit of shade, however you’ll see much less prolific blooming.
Contemplate its desire for full solar earlier than you begin packing it in with different vegetation.
Soil
Though this species prefers the organically-rich, marshy shores of a wetland or stream, C. amomum can tolerate drier soils as soon as established.
Fertile, well-draining, constantly soil with an acidic to impartial pH of 5.5 to 7.0 is good.
Water
This species could be very tolerant of moist, boggy, poorly drained soils, and constant moisture is non-negotiable.
When established, the shrub will likely be okay with brief dry spells however any prolonged drought would require supplemental irrigation.
For those who do select to find silky dogwood someplace that dries out periodically, be sure that to heap a very good three inches of mulch or compost on high of the basis zone each spring and summer time.
This further layer of insulation will assist lure moisture. If it doesn’t rain closely not less than as soon as every week, water deeply.
The place to Purchase
You may usually discover silky dogwood at plant nurseries or on-line retailers specializing in native vegetation.
There aren’t any cultivated forms of this species obtainable so it’ll typically be listed as silky dogwood.
You’ll typically come throughout swamp dogwood (C. obliqua) which was beforehand thought-about to be a subspecies of C. amomum. It’s fairly just like silky dogwood and infrequently troublesome to inform them aside.
Silky Dogwood
Yow will discover naked roots and vegetation in #3 containers obtainable at Nature Hills Nursery.
Propagation
You may propagate silky dogwood from seed, stem cuttings, or transplanting nursery begins.
Beginning this shrub from seed may be fairly unreliable, and could also be higher left to seasoned propagators.
From Seed
If you’re accumulating your individual seed you’ll face the difficult activity of eradicating the pulp from the seed previous to sowing.
This difficult, sticky work is usually accomplished by chicken, reptilian, and mammalian stomachs.
One of the simplest ways to do that is to soak the fruits in heat water for a day or two.
The fleshy rind can then be peeled away from the seed with the assistance of a rough sponge, some softened sandpaper, and even by eradicating the blades of a blender and pulsing the fruits within the water for just a few cycles.
When they’re clear, enable the seed to dry on a paper towel.
The seeds require a chilly interval often called chilly stratification to kickstart germination.
To attain this, you possibly can both place your ready seed in a bag stuffed with moistened vermiculite and set it within the fridge for 60 days or sow in trays outdoor in fall and permit nature to deal with the stratification.
For those who select to stratify your seeds within the fridge, begin the method in order that they’ll be able to sow in spring, near your final frost date.
To sow seeds, put together a flat of moist potting soil and scatter them throughout the floor. Poke every seed down into the soil so it’s buried a few quarter of an inch deep.
For those who sow in fall, place your flat outdoor in a location protected against temperature extremes and excessive winds. Hold the soil moist, however not soaking moist. Seeds will usually begin to germinate in spring.
After germination, maintain the soil constantly moist however not waterlogged. When a month or two has handed, skinny your seedlings to an inch aside.
In mid to late summer time, you possibly can pot up probably the most strong seedlings into four-inch pots and proceed to look after them till the next spring when you possibly can transplant out into the backyard.
From Stem Cuttings
Lots of the species within the Cornus genus will root from cuttings buried straight within the floor.
Silky dogwood, and its cousins pink twig dogwood (C. sericea) and grey dogwood (C. racemosa) are all able to being propagated this fashion.
Cuttings are finest taken within the fall after leaf drop.
Choose an extended, straight, wholesome twig with no wounds or blemishes on the bark. Utilizing a clear, sharp pair of pruners, lower a 24-inch-long piece of stem, angling your lower at a 45-degree angle.
Plant the lower finish six to eight inches into very moist soil. It helps typically to make use of a sturdy stick, or the deal with of a backyard software, to make a information gap. This manner you possibly can make sure the stem doesn’t break as you slide it into the bottom.
Moist soil is important for this methodology of propagation to work. In case your soil dries out over the winter or spring, be sure that to water totally.
Leaf improvement in spring will let you understand your cuttings have rooted and are effectively on their option to changing into giant, sturdy shrubs.
Softwood Cuttings
You can too propagate silky dogwood from softwood cuttings taken in the summertime, after flowering is completed.
Put together a four-inch pot with equal components potting soil and vermiculite. Be sure that the substrate is tamped down effectively and totally moistened.
Choose a number of items of pliable progress, about three to 5 inches in size. With a pointy, clear pair of scissors, snip every reducing just under a pair of leaf nodes. Take away all of the leaves from the decrease half of the stem.
Bury the underside two inches of the cuttings into your ready pot, leaving two to 3 leaf nodes above the soil. Use a pencil to make information holes. You may develop three cuttings in every four-inch pot.
Create a tent round your pot with a transparent plastic bag to make a modified humidity dome. Hold the soil constantly moist, however not waterlogged.
In six to eight weeks, your cuttings ought to have rooted.
After a month or so of root progress, your new silky dogwood vegetation may be set out within the backyard.
Transplanting
To transplant your cuttings, seedlings, or bought nursery begins, the method is fairly easy.
Dig a gap a little bit wider than the basis ball and simply as deep. Silky dogwood actually loves moisture, so I personally prefer to drench the basis ball earlier than burying it.
Set the plant within the gap and canopy the roots with soil, tamping it down as you go. Water in effectively.
Area vegetation six to 10 ft aside to permit for mature unfold.
Managing Pests and Illness
Pests and illnesses that bother this powerful, wetland species are few and much between.
Rising your shrub in optimum sunny, moist situations will assist it stay vigorous and wholesome.
Branches of younger vegetation can typically be nibbled on by little rodents, like muskrats, particularly in the event that they’re planted near water.
Erecting a small, two foot tall cage of hen wire round your new plant might help shield it from harm whereas it’s changing into established.
Pests
Though loads of creepy crawlies could select to munch in your silky dogwood, few will really harm your plant.
In actual fact, I like to recommend leaving native bugs alone to feed in your plant as wanted.
The one issues you could come throughout are scale, leaf miners, and borers. Until the infestation is extreme, you don’t must do something.
Learn our information to dogwood pests to study extra.
Illness
Silky dogwood is considerably vulnerable to some delicate fungal illnesses. None of those points are significantly problematic and might typically be managed pretty simply.
Leaf Spot
The time period “leaf spot” describes a wide range of blemishes and lesions on the foliage, typically on account of fungal an infection.
You may even see black or brown discoloration and the lesions may be round or splotchy and irregular.
There’s not lots you are able to do to forestall this challenge, as fungal pathogens are typically prevalent within the damp situations favored by this species.
Fortunately, leaf spot is sort of by no means critical, although it may trigger early leaf drop within the case of a extreme an infection.
In case your plant suffers from leaf spot one 12 months the possibilities are good that will probably be completely effective the next 12 months.
Powdery Mildew
Like leaf spot, powdery mildew is brought on by quite a few totally different fungal pathogens. This situation is characterised by a white to grey powder coating the higher surfaces of the leaves.
In extreme circumstances it may trigger leaf drop.
Powdery mildew is primarily an aesthetic downside. A longtime, wholesome specimen will tolerate an an infection of powdery mildew very effectively.
You may study extra about powdery mildew right here.
Our information to widespread dogwood illnesses has extra info.
Rugged and Dependable
Happily for the laidback gardeners amongst us, silky dogwood really takes care of itself.
Tolerant of variable moisture ranges, impervious to excessive chilly, and barely bothered by pests and illnesses, this species will entice helpful bugs and supply the birds with tasty berries.
Give this species the moist, sunny situations it prefers, step again, and let it prosper.
Do you develop silky dogwood? Please inform us how you utilize this excellent species in your individual backyard. Feedback and questions are at all times welcome, too!
And to study extra about rising dogwood in your panorama, take a look at these guides subsequent:
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