Tartarian Dogwood (Cornus alba)

Tartarian dogwood in the landscape

Tartarian dogwood is the Asian relative of Minnesota’s native redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea) and with the exception of native range and hardiness level, they are very similar. Both are known for their colorful winter bark. Flowers, fruit, cultural requirements, and landscape function are very similar.

Tatarian dogwood is used as a border, mass, screen, or specimen plant in landscapes. Other than full shade sites, C. alba is adaptable to most planting sites. This is a suckering species and over time, suckers may need to be removed to maintain plant width. For most cultivars within this species, brightly colored bark occurs on stems that are less than 3 years old so rejuvenation pruning should be a regular practice; remove the oldest third of stems down to the base of the plant every year or two.

Tatarian dogwood has multi-season interest but, because of its colorful winter bark, its main season of interest is winter. In spring, 2-5" leaves emerge followed by 2" clusters of small, 4-petaled, yellowish-white flowers in mid-May to June. Sporadic rebloom will occur later in the growing season. Small, round, white to pale blue fruit mature in late summer and autumn and are a popular food for songbirds. Fall color among cultivars with variegated leaves is insignificant. Other cultivars have yellow or red-purple fall color. In late summer, younger stems will start to turn from green to red or yellow-green. Color intensifies throughout winter until spring when stem color returns to green.