Cornus Blooming Merry Tetra - Flowering Dogwood

Cornus 'Blooming Merry Tetra' is compact, semi-evergreen, colourful and decorative almost all year round. The abundant white flowering of this dogwood, which occurs in late spring, is followed by beautiful edible red fruits and its foliage turns scarlet red from early autumn until late in the season. Well suited to small spaces, this bush fits in all gardens. Very hardy and less demanding to grow than its parent Cornus kousa and its cousin C. florida, it undoubtedly deserves to be discovered. Give it a prominent place, preferably in partial shade, in a large shrub border and in non-limestone soil.

Cornus 'Blooming Merry Tetra' is part of a new series of hybrids resulting from the cross-breeding of Cornus kousa, deciduous, with the evergreen C.angustata. This series called 'Blooming Tetra' brings together modest-sized cultivars, well-branched, with semi-evergreen foliage, which produce large "flowers" and large fruits. Their foliage turns orange to red early in autumn and the spectacle lasts for many weeks. All these plants belong to the cornaceae family.

It is a small tree or a large bush that generally reaches 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in) in height and 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in) in width at the age of 10 years. Ultimately, it will reach about 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in height and 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in) in spread, depending on the growing conditions. This cultivar shows rather slow growth. The flowering takes place in May-June. The bush is adorned with a multitude of 'flowers', which are actually inflorescences, measuring 8-9 cm (3.1-3.5 in) in diameter. These are clusters of small, green true flowers surrounded by 4 pointed bracts forming a star. Their colour is pure white and does not change over the approximately 6 weeks that these bracts live. These inflorescences are arranged on the tree as if they were placed on the foliage. The flowers are followed by fruits of pink to carmine red and resembling strawberries. The higher the summer temperatures, the more generous the fruiting. The fruits are edible, fleshy, with a sweet taste. They do not have a real gastronomic interest, but they enhance the charm of the shrub at the end of the season.  This dogwood is also remarkable thanks to its young shoots tinged with purple. The leaves are ovate, strongly veined, slightly undulate on the edges, and medium green. In October, they turn orange and then scarlet red and partially persist on the branches. 

Cornus 'Blooming Merry Tetra' thrives in continental climates, with marked summers and winters, but it performs very well in milder areas. In hot regions, it should be protected from scorching sun. This dogwood is beautiful and deserves to be planted as a specimen, standing out in a small garden or a large shrub border. Many acid-loving plants and shrubs with staggered flowering can accompany it. Choose, for example, oakleaf hydrangeas or paniculate hydrangeas, Japanese maples with purple foliage, a Japanese Snowbell…