Cornus alba Baton Rouge - Red Dogwood

The Cornus alba Baton Rouge® is a superb variety of dogwood that stands out with its bright coral-red young branches, creating a gleaming bouquet in winter that can be seen from far away in a landscape devoid of foliage and blooms. With its magnificent autumn colours, this deciduous shrub with a dense and bushy habit is a true ornament for the garden. Plant it in a hedge or along a large pathway, in any good garden soil that is not too dry.

The Cornus alba Baton Rouge (Minbat), obtained by Minier in 2007, belongs to the dogwood family. It is derived from the Cornus alba, the white dogwood native to Siberia, the banks of the Amur River, and the moist deciduous and coniferous forests found in Russia and Manchuria. It always grows near watercourses, under harsh and contrasting climates which is proof of its robustness.

The 'Baton Rouge' selection develops remarkable branches with extremely vivid red bark. Bushy and abundant, it naturally grows a little taller than wide at maturity, but repeated pruning often gives it a dome-like appearance that is wider than it is tall. It is a branched shrub, with the appearance of a thicket, reaching an average height of 1.75m (5.7ft), with a spread of 2m (6.5ft). Its growth is quite fast. Its branches are red and glossy, especially when young. The deciduous foliage is composed of opposite, ovate leaves, measuring 4 to 8cm (3.1in) long. They are medium green in colour and turn red-purple with a grey-reddish reverse before falling. The leaves are entire and prominently veined with a pointed tip. Flowering is not its main asset, quite discreet, in the form of small white-yellowish flowers arranged in cymes, but they are nectar-producing. This is followed by creamy white berries containing oily seeds, which turn bluish when ripe. The lower branches form suckers or root in the soil, without the shrub being invasive.

The Cornus alba Baton Rouge® thrives in any ordinary soil, even chalk and clay, and adapts to most climates. It is a rewarding and dependable shrub that requires little maintenance, aside from annual pruning of old branches near the stump to encourage new, more colourful shoots. It can be planted as a standalone specimen in the centre of a flower bed, paired with other deciduous or evergreen flowering shrubs with dark foliage, which will highlight the colours of the leaves and branches. It works wonders in a hedge, paired with viburnums, lilacs, or Amelanchier, for example. In a large garden, it can also be planted en masse along a pathway or at the edge of a property, in front of a backdrop of larger evergreen shrubs such as Elaeagnus ebbingei, Photinia, Cypress, laurel, and many others. As it is a shrub that thrives near water, it can be planted, along with the yellow-barked Cornus stolonifera Faviramea, behind a foreground of astilbes, not far from a pond.