Cornus kousa Laura - Flowering Dogwood

Cornus kousa 'Laura' is a very original and bright variety, with variegated leaves and flowers. It is a bush with an airy, upright habit and branches gracefully spread in layers, which are particularly striking when uncovered by winter cold. Plant it in isolation, near a window or terrace to admire its magnificent structure in all seasons. The leaves are green with white cream edges, infused with bright pink, red and purple in autumn. From May to June, this bush produces smaller flowers than other varieties, with creamy white bracts tinged with green, enhanced by pure white margins, followed by a fruiting of small edible and decorative, red-pink strawberries. It is a particularly useful bush for illuminating a dark corner of the garden in well-drained, rich, moist soil, preferably without limestone.

Cornus kousa is a small tree or large bush, native to Japan, China, and Korea. Its architectural silhouette, supported by layered and horizontal branches, gives it a Japanese-like appearance. After many years of research and intense selection and hybridization work, the variety 'Laura' is an original horticultural hybrid with variegated foliage and flowers. This cultivar develops an airy, upright to spreading habit, reaching 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in all directions after many years. Despite its slow growth, it is a robust and easy-to-grow bush as long as it receives morning or evening non-scorching sun and is in well-drained, fertile and limestone-free soil.

'Laura' blooms in May-June, from 3 to 4 years onwards. The bush is adorned with a multitude of small 'flowers', which are actually inflorescences. These are clusters of small true, green flowers surrounded by 4 oval and pointed bracts, like leaves, arranged in stars, creamy white with a touch of green and pure white margins. They are arranged on the tree as if they were placed on the foliage. After the flowers, fruits appear measuring 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter, ranging from pink to carmine red, and similar to strawberries. The higher the summer temperatures, the more abundant the fruiting. The fruits are edible, fleshy, with a sweet flavour, they do not have a real taste interest, but they enhance the charm of this large bush at the end of the season. 'Laura' has bright green leaves with white cream edges that turn bright pink on the margins and purple in the centre in autumn. The leaves of Cornus kousa are ovate, strongly veined and pendulous with undulating edges. They measure between 5 and 8 cm (2 and 3.1 in) long and are opposite each other along the branches.

Cornus kousa 'Laura' thrives in continental climates, with marked summers and winters, but also performs well in milder areas. In hot regions, it should be placed out of the scorching sun, in moist soil. This Japanese dogwood is still rare in gardens but very easy to grow once it has been carefully planted. It is a beautiful attraction alone and deserves to be planted in isolation, standing in the middle of a lawn for example. It will also be great at the back of a bed composed of ericaceous plants or shrubs with staggered flowering or evergreen foliage. Choose, for example, to accompany it with oakleaf or panicle hydrangeas, Japanese maples with purple foliage, symphoricarpos, a Cercis, a Fothergilla, or a Tetradium daniellii, the bee tree.