Cornus kousa Galilean - Flowering Dogwood

Cornus kousa 'Galilean', also known as 'Galzam', is a remarkable variety with particularly elegant flowering, featuring large pure white bracts with beautifully elongated and tapered tips! From May to June, its star-shaped flowers cover its layered vegetation in even brighter and more beautiful blankets, contrasting with its dark green deciduous foliage. Gracefully pendant and wavy, the leaves are also larger, offering an even more aesthetic and generous coverage. It forms a large bush with several trunks and fine branches spreading horizontally, giving it a decorative interest especially when bare in winter! As it ages, its grey bark peels off in plates, adding to its appeal during the colder months. It is a perfect shrub for partially shaded areas, placed alone or in the background of flower beds. Plant it in sunny or partially shaded areas with well-drained, rich, moist soil, preferably without limestone.

Cornus kousa, or Japanese dogwood, is a small tree or large bush, native to Japan, China, and Korea. Its sculptural silhouette, supported by layered and horizontal branches, gives it a very Japanese look. Developed after many years of research and intense selection and hybridization work, the 'Galilean' variety is characterized by its pure white flowering with bracts that have very tapered tips and large dark green leaves. This cultivar has an upright and spreading habit, reaching approximately 6m (19 ft 8 in) in height and 5m (16 ft 5 in) in width after many years. Despite its slow growth, it is a robust and easy-to-grow shrub as long as it enjoys morning or evening sun, not too intense, and well-drained, moist soil, preferably fertile and without limestone.

The flowering of 'Galilean' takes place in May-June, even on plants only aged 3 to 4 years. The bush is adorned with a multitude of large 'flowers', which are actually inflorescences. These are clusters of small true, green flowers, surrounded by 4 oval, pure white bracts with particularly tapered tips, arranged in star shapes. The flowers are arranged on the tree as if they were placed on the foliage. After the flowers, numerous fruits of good size, ranging from pink to crimson red and similar to strawberries, appear. The higher the summer temperatures, the more abundant the fruiting. The fruits are edible, fleshy, with a sweet flavour, but they do not have a significant taste, although they enhance the charm of this large shrub late in the season. 'Galilean' has dark green foliage, larger than other varieties. The leaves of Cornus kousa are ovate, strongly veined, slightly closed, and quite wavy along the edges, pendulous in nature. They measure between 5 and 8 cm (2 and 3.1 in) in length and are arranged opposite each other along the branches.

Cornus kousa 'Galilean' thrives in continental climates with distinct summers and winters, but it also performs well in milder zones. In hot regions, it should be placed in a sheltered spot away from the scorching sun, in consistently moist soil. This Japanese dogwood is still rare in gardens, yet it is very easy to grow as long as it benefits from careful planting. It can be a beautiful attraction on its own, planted as a centrepiece in a lawn for example. It will also shine when placed at the back of a flower bed composed of ericaceous plants or evergreen shrubs with staggered flowering or persistent foliage. Consider, for example, accompanying it with oakleaf or paniculate hydrangeas, Japanese maples with purple foliage, snowberries, a redbud, a fothergilla, or a honey tree.