Cornus kousa Wolf Eyes - Flowering Dogwood

Cornus kousa 'Wolf Eyes' is one of the best varieties with variegated foliage. This Japanese dogwood has very bright foliage with undulating cream-white margins that are highly resistant, tolerating intense sunlight or dense shade. The edges then turn pink and red with the first autumn cold, adding additional interest. It forms a large deciduous bush or a beautiful small tree with an exceptionally slender silhouette with its fine branches that spread out in horizontal layers, later enhanced by bark that becomes spotted and flakes off with age. It bears magnificent flowering with large, pure white bracts tipped with green that last a long time on the tree, followed by small red fruits resembling strawberries. It is a variety which is decorative throughout the year, particularly useful for brightening up a darker corner of the garden, whether planted alone or in the back of a flower bed. Slow-growing and compact, it is perfect for framing a house or a terrace. It is a disease-free bush and tolerates limestone better than Cornus florida. It is easy to grow in partial shade in good, deep, well-drained garden soil that remains moist, especially in summer.

Cornus kousa is a small tree or a large bush, native to Japan, China and Korea. Its architectural silhouette, supported by layered and horizontal branches, gives it a very Japanese look. The 'Wolf Eyes' variety, the result of many years of research and intense selection and hybridization work, is one of the most stable variegated varieties. This cultivar shows slow growth but is capable of reaching 5 m in height and 6 m in spread after many years.

'Wolf Eyes' flowers in June, on plants from 3 to 4 years old. The bush is adorned with a multitude of flowers, which are actually inflorescences, measuring about 12-13 cm (4.7-5.1 in) in diameter. These are clusters of small, green, true flowers surrounded by 4 pointed bracts forming a star, pure white with green tips. They are arranged on the tree as if placed on the foliage. After the flowers, fruits measuring 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter appear, ranging from pink to carmine red and resembling 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 enhance the charm of this large bush at the end of the season. 'Wolf Eyes' is particularly remarkable thanks to its grey-green leaves bordered with bright cream-white, which turn reddish pink in autumn. The leaves of Cornus kousa are ovate, strongly veined, undulated on the edges and pendulous. 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 'Wolf Eyes' thrives in continental climates, with marked summers and winters, but also performs very well in milder zones. In hot regions, it should be sheltered from the scorching sun. This Japanese dogwood is still rare in gardens, yet very easy to grow once it has been carefully planted. It is beautiful, and deserves to be planted alone, standing in the middle of a short grass meadow for example. It will also be great at the back of a flower bed composed of ericaceous plants or evergreen shrubs with staggered flowering or evergreen foliage. Choose, for example, to accompany it with oakleaf hydrangeas or panicle hydrangeas, Japanese maples with purple foliage, symphoricarpos, a Cercis, a Fothergilla or a Tetradium daniellii, the bee tree.