Photo: Matt Lavin, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Red Osier Dogwood

Cornus sericea

Also called redosier dogwood, red-twig dogwood, red willow, American dogwood, Cornus stolonifera, Swida sericea.

A fast, thicket-forming shrub of wet ground whose young stems turn bright red after the leaves fall and glow against snow all winter.

Winter interestWildlife valueTolerates wet soilErosion controlHedge or screenFall colorBears young

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 6–12 ft
USDA zones: 2–7
Growth rate: Fast
Sun: Full, Part, Shade
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Stream banks, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats
Native range: Alaska and 36 other states, north to North Dakota, south to Arizona and west to Oregon
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Red osier dogwood is the red-stemmed dogwood of northern wetlands, at home from Newfoundland to Alaska. Osier comes from a French word meaning willow-like, and it is often called red willow. Its bright red twigs, white pith and white fruit set it apart from the silky dogwood we grow. Silky dogwood's twigs are purplish, its pith is brown, and its fruit is blue. Moose, elk and deer browse it so readily that in Montana it is called an ice cream plant. Because it takes wet soil, grows fast and roots where its stems lie, it is often recommended for stream bank planting and erosion control. Set it along a pond edge or stream bank, where its roots hold the soil and its red stems show all winter.

Size, growth and what to expect

Red osier dogwood grows fast, about two and three quarter feet a year in our growth estimator while young. It makes a loose, many-stemmed shrub 6 to 12 feet tall and often as wide. Low branches that touch the ground take root, so a plant widens into a thicket. Plants first fruit at 3 to 4 years old.

Flat clusters of small creamy white flowers, about 2 inches across, open in May and June, and often again in late summer. Bees, flies and butterflies visit them, bumblebees most often. Round white berries a quarter to a third of an inch across ripen from July into October, on stalks that turn maroon. In New England, 95 kinds of birds eat them, and bears, raccoons and squirrels take them too. The leaves turn red to purple in fall.

It grows wild from Newfoundland west to Alaska and south to Virginia, Nebraska, New Mexico and California. Its home is wet meadows, stream and lake shores, marshes, swamps and fens, and the edges of moist upland woods.

How to grow Red Osier Dogwood

Red osier dogwood grows in full sun, part shade or shade, with the best flowers and winter color in sun. In hot southern summers full sun stresses it. It wants a moist soil and takes wet ground, clay and occasional floods. Its low stems root where they touch the soil, so give it room to spread. Plant it 5 feet from a wall and set plants 5 feet apart for a hedge. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Sow the cleaned stones outdoors in fall, a quarter to half an inch deep, and mulch the bed over winter. Seedlings come up the next spring. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for four to five months first.

Water weekly through the first two summers unless the site stays wet. Deer browse its twigs heavily, so cage young plants where deer are many. The brightest red is on young stems, so cut a few of the oldest stems to the ground each spring. Every few years, you can instead cut the whole shrub back to a few inches in late winter to renew it.

Red osier dogwood sets no fruit with its own pollen, so plant two or more seedlings from different parents for a crop of berries. Leaf spots and stem cankers are common, and scale, borers and twig blight can turn up, mostly on stressed plants. It is not susceptible to dogwood anthracnose.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

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