Cornus controversa 'VARIEGATA' wedding cake tree, giant dogwood
size/type
taller shrub,taller shrub
usual height
3-5m
usual width
2-3m
leaves
deciduous broadleaf
colour of leaves
flowers
less showy but noticeable
colour of flowers
blooming time
April-May
location
full sun
soil type
any (acidic to alkaline)
soil moisture requirements
evenly moist (dislikes drought)
USDA zone (lowest)
5 (down to -29°C)
winter protection
for zone 5+6
for zone 7
categorized
Description of the plant:
This giant dogwood has another name which, in my opinion, characterizes the plant much better = wedding cake tree. Looking at the habit of the more commonly grown cultivar Variegata one knows exactly what it means. This beauty can easily become a show-stopping specimen in a garden of literally any style. Its tiered branches look exactly like several layers of a wedding cake and the white-variegated foliage stands for rich sugary icing. Want a piece? The leaves are elliptic, deciduous, mid green in the middle with rich white margins. They are always pendent and a bit wavy. They emerge bronze pink and gain the pink shade again in early autumn when they fade to pink and yellow. Flowers are 10-15 cm wide, white-green, flat corymbs which are not particularly exquisite but look great in profusion on a mature plant. They come out in mid spring.
This gorgeous small tree (or a large shrub) needs time to show its assets. Deep burgundy red young stems grow rapidly upright first, making 50 or more centimeters per year. But the following couple of years the plant only makes strictly horizontal, 10-20 cm long shoots to fill up the habit. In 3-4 years the plant is strong enough to produce another long shoot upwards and the whole scenario repeats. In 10 years you have a fantastic plant about 2m tall and 1.5m wide.
Dogwood is quite soil adaptable but hates water-logging. For best results grow it in full sun in semi-fertile, slightly moist soil. No fertilizing or pruning will bring you a beautiful plant of a unique shape. Fully hardy to min. -30°C (USDA zone 5), possibly more.
Last update 25-02-2010
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GLOSSARY
- STANDARD QUALITY - Plants of this group are 1st class quality with number of branches and overall density adequate to their size and age, considering they were container grown.
- DE LUXE QUALITY - This label guarantees a luxurious quality of manually selected plants that, compared to their height and age, are exceptionally dense and beautiful.
- EXTRA - These plants are usually mature and bigger specimens with exceptional overall appearance.
- STANDARD (as described in the plant form) means a tree with a trunk of 190-210 cm and a crown at the top, unless specified differently. The commercial size for trees is their girth measured in the height of 1m from ground.
- HOBBY - These plants are of the same quality as our standard-quality plants but younger and therefore cheaper.
- SHRUB - a woody plant with branches growing bushy from the ground level.
- HALF-STANDARD or MINI-STANDARD - a small tree with shorter trunk, its size is usually specified.
- FEATHERED - These are trees with branches growing already from the base of the trunk and up along the stem.
- GRASSES and PERENNIALS - Sizes given usually read the diameter of the pot or the clump, as specified.
