We are familiar with the elegant flowering of Cornus kousa and florida, the colourful wood of Cornus alba, and the splendid branches of Cornus controversa, but in this world of giants, there hides the small, the diminutive Cornus canadensis.
The Cornus of Canada flowers in the undergrowth from May.
Known to seasoned gardeners for many years, this little dogwood often goes unnoticed and struggles to find its place among its larger siblings. It is true that one should not look up to appreciate its prolific white flowering, but rather down at the ground.
Standing about twenty centimetres tall, the Cornus canadensis, as it is aptly named in French, is an undershrub, often classified among perennials. It flowers and fruits like a Japanese dogwood, but the resemblance ends there, as it does not form wood but herbaceous stems, capable of suckering in the soil like an Epimedium or a Pachysandra, provided the soil is cool and rich in humus; otherwise, it will spread less quickly.
It flowers from May to July and then produces small fruits, about the size of a small strawberry, in candy pink. But that’s not all: its bright green foliage suddenly turns mahogany red when the nights grow cooler. And to the question of whether it is hardy here, I would respond with another question: is it cold in Canada during winter?
Michael
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