Kousa Flowering Dogwood
| Qty | 1 | 5 | 10+ |
| Price per Plant | $22.50 | $7.00 | $6.00 |
Cornus kousa
Kousa Dogwood (also called the Japanese Strawberry Tree) is a flowering dogwood originally native to Japan, China, and Korea. First introduced to Europe and the United States in 1875, the Kousa dogwood is now widely planted because of its distinctive and decorative creamy-white bracts (sometimes tinged with pink) that appear after native Dogwoods. A wonderful addition for any home landscape, it has no serious disease or insect problems in the United States and its blooms attract bees and butterflies. The Kousa Dogwood also has fruit that attracts birds and squirrels. Believe it or not, the fruit is edible to people. The bark of this beautiful tree is rich brown-red and flakes to reveal fresh cream or fawn bark beneath, adding to its beauty. It is mildly sun tolerant and offers beautiful red and purple fall colors. Planting instruction can be found at boydnursery.net/planting/.
| Classification | |
|---|---|
| Diseases & Insects | None serious, some borer damage reported |
| Family | Cornaceae |
| Flowers | The true flowers are small and inconspicuous and are produced in a 5/8 inch diameter rounded umbel on the upright 2 inch long peduncle that originates from short lateral spurs at the end of a small 2 to 4-leaved twig; the creamy white bracts are the showy part of the inflorescence and are borne in June, approximately 2 to 3 weeks after those of Cornus florida; the 4 bracts are taper-pointed, 1 to 2 inches long, 1/4 to 3/4 inches wide; the flowers, being stalked, are raised above the foliage creating a milky way effect along the horizontal branches; the bracts persist for up to 6 weeks and longer; in the aging process they often become pinkish; tremendous interest in a pure pink or rose bracted form but most start white and age to pink |
| Growth Rate | |
| Hardiness Range | zone 5a – 8b *need help finding your hardiness zone? |
| Leaves | Leaves are opposite, simple, elliptic-ovate, 2 to 4 inches long, 3/4 to 2 inches wide, acuminate, cuneate, and dark green in the summer; leaves turn reddish purple or scarlet in fall, persisting for 3 to 5 weeks, significant variation in intensity of fall color |
| Plant Type | |
| Primary Features | |
| Size | 20-30 feet tall at maturity with an equal spread |
| Sun Requirement |
What am I buying?
We sell Kousa Dogwoods as rooted cuttings. Taken from Wikipedia, “a plant cutting is a piece of a plant that is used in horticulture for vegetative (asexual) propagation. A piece of the stem or root of the source plant is placed in a suitable medium such as moist soil. If the conditions are suitable, the plant piece will begin to grow as a new plant independent of the parent, a process known as striking.” Put more simply, a rooted cutting is a small clone of the specimen from which it was taken. As a genetically identical clone, the cutting shares all the characteristic traits and attributes of the cultivated variety. Our rooted cuttings are 3-6 months old and 4-8 inches in stem length above the soil line. They are clipped from our private stock plants and grown in root pruning trays at our temperature controlled greenhouse.
When are plants collected?
Once your order is placed, your plants will be collected as soon as the weather permits. This time-frame is normally within 3-7 days. During heavy order periods (April-May), this collection time can grow to 10-14 days.
How are plants shipped?
All shipments are mailed via USPS Priority Mail using PirateShip.com. We monitor national weather conditions and temperatures for shipments. If at any time your order must be delayed for weather concerns, we will contact you by phone and/or email. The day that your order is completed or partially shipped, you will receive an email containing your package tracking number. You can also find this updated information by logging into your account on our website.
