Cornus alba Siberian Pearls - White Dogwood

The 'Siberian Pearls' White Dogwood is a highly ornamental variety of white dogwood, interesting for its colours, overall appearance, and medium size that allows for numerous uses in the garden, whether it be contemporary or more wild in style. Combining all the required qualities of an ornamental shrub, it offers abundant white flowering in spring, magnificent purple foliage in late summer serving as a backdrop to its precious white pearl-like fruits that turn bluish in autumn. Winter reveals its shiny branches gathered in a large bundle of almost unreal mahogany red.

Known commonly as white dogwood or Siberian dogwood, this deciduous shrub from the dogwood family is native to Northeast Asia, from European Russia to Siberia, north of Korea and Manchuria. Cornus alba naturally grows in moist deciduous and coniferous forests, always near watercourses, under harsh and contrasting climates that attest to its robustness.

A true ornamental shrub, the 'Siberian Pearls' variety brings the garden to life throughout the four seasons. Medium-sized, composed of numerous branches branching out from the base, it forms a ball of 2 m (6.6 ft) in height and width. Its wood can be pruned back at the end of winter to 30-50 cm (11.8-19.7 in) from the ground; once trimmed, the plant will maintain a compact size and continuously produce colourful young shoots. In spring, the young dark green, rectangular and veined leaves measuring 10-12 cm (3.9-4.7 in) in length are adorned with a superb and abundant white flowering in umbels measuring 8-10 cm (3.1-3.9 in) in diameter. In summer, large milk-white berries appear, contrasting with magnificent green foliage tinged with purple. In autumn, the berries take on turquoise blue hues and the foliage comes alive with bright purple-red. Finally, in winter, the shrub sheds its leaves to reveal young, shiny mahogany-red wood and becomes very decorative. The lower branches form shoots or take root in the soil, without the shrub becoming invasive.

With so many fine qualities, there is no shortage of usage advice; use this shrub in harsh climates and damp soils all the way up into the mountains; as a free or low hedge; in flower beds alongside tall grasses, variegated and evergreen plants; or in pots on a terrace adorned with skimmias, heucheras, yarrows, and hydrangeas. Whatever the size and style of the garden, there is always a suitale type of dogwood to provide beautiful decor. The 'Siberian Pearls' white dogwood provides an ongoing show throughout the year. Its growth makes it suitable for the background of large flower beds, mixed hedges, or on the edge of woodland to create a transition with the countryside. Its combination with Helianthus, Heliopsis, or daylilies will create a very colourful scene. As it is a shrub that thrives near water, it can be planted with the yellow-barked Cornus stolonifera Faviramea, behind a foreground of astilbes, for example, not far from a pond.

Available in a 3-litre pot.