# Roughleaf Dogwood (Cornus drummondii) > A fast thicket dogwood for dry or wet ground, with creamy flowers in late spring and white berries that dozens of kinds of birds eat. Also called rough-leaved dogwood, Drummond's dogwood, small-flower dogwood, white cornel, Cornus priceae. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/roughleaf-dogwood/ ![Roughleaf dogwood (Cornus drummondii) shrub covered in rounded clusters of creamy white flowers](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/roughleaf-dogwood-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: John Knouse, Public domain ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACornus_drummondii1.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 6 to 15 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 8 - Grows wild in: Dry uplands, rocky ground, stream banks, floodplain forests, old fields and edges - Native range: 21 states, north to Wisconsin, south to Louisiana and west to South Dakota (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin) - Sun: Full, Part, Shade - Soil moisture: Average, Dry, Wet - Growth rate: Fast - Traits: Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Tolerates wet soil, Hedge or screen, Fall color, Tolerates shade, Erosion control - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Roughleaf dogwood is a thicket-forming shrub or small tree of the Midwest and the southern plains. It is named for its leaves, rough to the touch above and woolly beneath, and it is often mistaken for our gray dogwood. It tolerates drier ground than Missouri's other native dogwoods, and it withstands drought and extreme cold. Its thickets give birds cover and nesting sites, and its roots help hold a bank against erosion. New York lists it as endangered, at the northeastern edge of its range. It can be hard to find in nurseries. Plant it as a windbreak, a screen along a property line or a bird thicket at the back of the lot. ## Size, growth and what to expect It grows fast, and our growth estimator models it at nearly three feet a year. It makes a shrub 6 to 15 feet tall and as wide. As a small tree it can reach 20 to 25 feet. Seedlings bear their first fruit at 2 to 6 years. Flat clusters of creamy white flowers, 2 to 4 inches across, open in May and June. The white berries, a quarter inch across, ripen from August to October on red stalks. Dozens of kinds of birds eat them, from bobwhite and wild turkey to wood ducks and songbirds. The leaves turn purplish red in fall. It grows wild from Ontario and South Dakota south to eastern Texas and east to Georgia. Its home is dry, rocky woods, glades, thickets, old fields and prairies, and sometimes low, wet ground by streams. ## How to grow Roughleaf Dogwood Roughleaf dogwood grows in full sun or part shade, and it takes shade. It takes clay, sand, rocky or limestone soil. It grows on dry ground and on wet sites that flood at times. Plant it 8 feet from a wall, and set plants 6 feet apart for a screen. Keep it 15 feet from overhead wires, since as a small tree it can pass 20 feet. 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 ring clear of the stems. Clean the pulp off the stones and sow them outdoors in fall, a quarter to half an inch deep, under hardware cloth. Some seedlings come up the next spring and the rest the spring after. Stored stones need 30 to 60 days warm and damp, then 30 to 60 days in the refrigerator, before a spring sowing. Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. Deer browse the leaves and twigs, so cage young plants for two winters. It needs little pruning. For a single-trunked tree, mow or pull the extra shoots. Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. It spreads by underground stems into a colony, and it is hard to manage in prairies. Leaf spots, twig blight, cankers and scale insects turn up at times, but no serious pest troubles it. ## Sources - [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Cornus drummondii](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=295802) - [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Cornus drummondii](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/cornus-drummondii/) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Cornus drummondii](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CODR) - [Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide: Rough-Leaved Dogwood](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/rough-leaved-dogwood) - [The Morton Arboretum: Rough-leaved dogwood](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/rough-leaved-dogwood/) - [Virginia Tech Dendrology: roughleaf dogwood](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=852) - [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Cornus drummondii, Deasy and others 2026](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cornus/cornus-drummondii/) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Cornus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Cornus.pdf) - [Native Plant Network, Hoss 2005, George O. White State Forest Nursery, Licking, Missouri: Cornus drummondii](https://npn.rngr.net/renderNPNProtocolDetails?selectedProtocolIds=cornaceae-cornus-3038) - [NatureServe Explorer: Cornus drummondii](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.148084/Cornus_drummondii) - [New York Natural Heritage Program: Plant and Animal Status List](https://guides.nynhp.org/status/) - [Georgia Biodiversity Portal: rare plants table, exported July 7, 2026](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/table/plants) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [Native trees for insects: the beetles, wasps, cicadas and fireflies that everything else eats](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-insects/index.html.md) - [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md) - [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Roughleaf Dogwood, add ?species=roughleaf-dogwood with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=roughleaf-dogwood&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Roughleaf Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=roughleaf-dogwood): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=roughleaf-dogwood - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Roughleaf Dogwood is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=roughleaf-dogwood - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Roughleaf Dogwood needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=roughleaf-dogwood:1 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Roughleaf Dogwood flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.