Dogwood how to grow from seeds. How to grow dogwood at home? Planting and caring for sprouts

It is easiest to grow a dogwood bush by digging and replanting the root shoot, or by cuttings, but it is not always possible to purchase such planting material, and then you can try to grow the dogwood seeds by buying ripe berries at the market or in the store. Seed germination is not too high - about 60%, but this deficiency is easily compensated by sowing more seeds, and then there is hope that several of them will definitely germinate.

Features of germination of dogwood seeds

Inside the juicy pulp of dogwood there is an oblong ossicle, which in turn can consist of one, two or three seeds. To extract them from the fetus, the cornel is poured with warm water in a small vessel and covered. After some time, the fermentation of the fruits will begin, and then they are ground, separating from the pulp. The difficulty is that before sowing the seeds must go through a very long stratification, without which their germination will be zero. The washed bones are mixed with sawdust and placed in the refrigerator for stratification, the duration of which is one and a half years. This means that if you put the seeds in the refrigerator in the fall, then you can sow them after two winters.

There is another way to carry out a cold treatment. Sow dogwood seeds on the beds in a mixture of sand with humus, and leave them like this for two years. The sowing place should be fenced so as not to accidentally plant anything else on this place and not to carry out weeding here. All weeds should be carefully pulled out manually or simply cut to the root so that, together with the roots of the weeds, dogwood seeds are not removed from the ground. After a year and a half, in May or early June, dogwood sprouts will appear on the site of crops. All summer they need careful care with watering and loosening, and by autumn you will have strong bushes.

Dogwood through seedlings

After stratification in the refrigerator, dogwood seeds can be sown in open ground or seedlings grown, but before that they should be warmed up well, for example, near a heating battery. This can be done at the end of February for one week, and at the beginning of March to sow in a box with a soil mixture consisting of identical parts of sand, humus and fertile land. The box is covered with a dark film and placed in a warm place. It is necessary to observe what is happening under the film, and when the first sprouts hatch, place them on the windowsill.

Seedlings are planted in the soil with the onset of stable warm weather in the penumbra area. The soil under the plants is mulched, and at first systematic irrigation and weeding are carried out.

Sowing seeds in open ground

Stratified bones are sown in open ground at the beginning of May. Furrows with a depth of 3 cm are made on the bed, and seeds are planted in them. At this time, the crops need constant moderate humidity, so an improvised film shelter can be arranged above them, which will protect the soil from drying out. When the seeds hatch, shoots appear, and then the first leaves appear, the film can be removed.

With such difficulty, the grown seedlings should be protected from the hot summer sun, drying out of the soil and excessive humidity, so that by autumn the bushes get stronger and can survive their first winter.

Dogwood wintering

Young plants in the first year need winter shelter. The base of the bushes is covered with humus or loose earth, and the rest with fallen leaves or spruce branches. In the spring, the shelter is removed in several stages - first the leaves are removed, and after a few days the whole bush is released. Before budding, the seedlings are transferred to a permanent place, sunny and spacious. Dogwood grown from seeds will begin fruiting not earlier than in five years.

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Dogwood is not often found in our area. But since this plant has unsurpassed beneficial properties, it is worth considering to start growing it on a summer cottage.

Planting a dogwood and subsequent care for it is an absolutely not complicated procedure, which even an aspiring gardener can afford. This shrub is unpretentious, and at the same time has delicious berries.

Dogwood prefers the warm climate of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, where it grows in mountain forests, on the sunny edges, as well as in thickets of other shrubs. In addition, it grows in Ukraine, Crimea, Central and Southern Europe, as well as in Western Asia. On the territory of Russia, dogwood is successfully cultivated in various areas - Moscow Region, Krasnodar Territory and other regions.

The beginning of flowering of ordinary dogwood is in March, and the end is in April. The fruits ripen closer to mid-autumn, depending on the region of growth. When the fruits are ripe, they begin to fall from the bush. The ripeness of the cornel fruit can also be determined by taste. Harvested every year in September, and the roots - in late November.

For long-term storage of berries at home they break off as they begin to ripen.   Fruits are placed in small baskets where they ripen., and then stored at a temperature of 0 - +2 C.

Pleasant sweet and sour taste with a specific aroma dogwood fruits often consume freshand experienced housewives are in a hurry to buy dogwood in order to make delicious jams, jellies, jams, juices, compotes, marmalades or just pour the fruit with sugar and store it. Berries can also be preserved by freezing.

In its raw form, dogwood berries are stored in a refrigerator (in a plastic bag with holes) for no more than 12 days.

Breeding dogwood with bones at home

Dogwood can be propagated with a stone, i.e. sprout her. To do this, take ripe berries, free the bone from the pulp and place in boxes with wet sawdust or moss for one year, regularly maintaining a moist environment. This method stratifies the seeds before planting them. The seed of this plant is not divided into cotyledons. In this regard, it should be placed in the ground no deeper than 3 cm. Unstratified bones sprout only after 2 years, and far from all. Germinated seeds germinate in the year when they are sown.

It is simple to take care of seeds: watering, top dressing, at the beginning of growth, shading from hot sunlight. During the first year, seedlings grow to 3-4 cm, by the end of the second - up to 10-15 cm. Dogwood berries grown from seeds are harvested 7-10 years after sowing.

Dogwood retains the varietal properties, like all fruit plants, during vegetative propagation. Dogwood can propagate by vaccination, green cuttings and replants.   The most effective way  - reproduction by budding, the survival rate of the eyes is 92-97%

When to plant dogwood in various regions of Russia?

The best period for planting shrubs on open ground in the southern regions is autumn. Time for planting dogwood is not difficult to determine - as soon as poplar leaves begin to fall. It is recommended to plant this plant in the fall, since during spring planting it is necessary to plant it in a rather short time: between the time when the soil warms up and the period when the buds of the bush begin to bloom.

In the autumn period, dogwood is planted no later than mid-October, 2-3 weeks before frost. Well watered and swollen shrubs manage to take root, tolerate winter well and begin to grow rapidly in early spring.

Advantages and disadvantages of autumn planting

Autumn planting has several advantages.:

• Dogwood seedlings planted in autumn manage to heal damaged roots during the winter  and build up new suction roots by spring. Thanks to this, the young plant is able to withstand without complications the early spring droughts and dry winds characteristic of the southern regions.
• In the autumn dogwood is much more profitable to buy. Gardeners and nurseries sell freshly planted planting materials, resulting in a huge selection of products at affordable prices.
• Autumn planting is quite a bit of a hassle. It is enough to deal with only one watering, and the rest of the work will be carried out by nature independently. Rainy weather in autumn provides the dogwood with the necessary state of humidity and comfort.
• Another important advantage is time saving. Autumn planting of dogwood seedlings frees up a large amount of time and effort for other work, which with the onset of springtime becomes quite a lot.

Autumn planting has certain disadvantages.:

• Severe frosts can ruin still immature plants. In winter, strong winds, snowfalls and other weather adversities are observed, which can break young trees and shrubs.
• Danger to shrubs are rodentseating seedlings in late autumn and winter.

Sometimes freshly picked dogwood berries with pericarp are planted in August. Germination in this case is 70-80% after 1.5 years from the day of sowing.

Important rules for landing dogwood

During planting, certain rules should be followed.:

• Dogwood should preferably be planted in a shaded area.between the trees. Thus, it is possible to save the area of \u200b\u200bthe garden and solve the problem of using low-light areas on the site.
• When choosing a site groundwater placement should be considered, since the cornelian root system branches out at a level of 1 m from the soil surface.
• For good yields it is recommended to plant several different varieties of plantsi, because they bloom at the same time.
• When planting a shrub humus, manure, mineral fertilizers are not used. Only earth needs water.

Below is a detailed description of the process of planting dogwood in the garden.

How to prepare a seedling?

During the acquisition of seed, attention should be paid to the root: the more powerful it is, the faster the plant will develop. Concern should be given to weak, weathered, thin roots with obvious signs of pain. You need to purchase powerful seedlings with 2-3 root branches at least 30 cm long. The bark on the trunk should be intact, and the branches intact.

To fully verify the vitality of the plant you like, you need to slightly incise the bark. If the incision is green  - means the choice is right, if brown  - You will have to continue the search for a suitable dogwood.

The rhizome of the seedling should be well moistened. In the case of long-term transportation, it is wrapped with wet material and placed in a plastic bag. If the roots have dried out during the transportation period, they should be placed in water for several days before planting. If after purchase it is not possible to plant a seedling right away, it is dripped under an inclination in a shaded place. It is important that the earth covers all the roots, as well as half the seed. Abundantly watered plant in this form can be stored for a month.

Choosing a place to plant in a garden plot or cottage

What is the most suitable place in the country for growing dogwood? For an unpretentious dogwood, any site is suitable. In order to harvest good crops, the soil must be saturated with fertilizers, drained, moist and alkaline..

To check the acidity of the soil, it is necessary to drip 2 drops of table vinegar on a handful of earth. Small bubbles appear in the alkaline environment, indicating the required amount of lime.

Dogwood does not take root on marshy soils. In addition, clay areas and poorly lit areas should be avoided. For the first 5 years of growing this shrub, a partial shade is perfect. Then the dogwood can be transplanted into a fairly lit area of \u200b\u200bthe garden. To save space, it is advised to plant a bush between old trees, which with their shadow will protect its root system from drying out. Dogwood coexists with each of the fruit plants, with the exception of walnuts.

Description of the process of planting seedlings on open ground in autumn

To properly plant a dogwood, you must follow these steps:

1. Before proceeding to planting, the plant should be carefully examined again and prune broken branches and damaged roots. Then it is good to process all the roots with a pre-prepared clay mash. When planting in autumn, carefully remove the foliage from the cornel.
2. The recess for the seedling should easily contain the rhizome. Will fit pit 30 - 50 cm deep.
3. Digging a hole into it drive in a count, which then will need to bind the plant.
4. About 15 cm of pebbles are placed at the bottom of the fossa  or expanded clay. If the soil is sparse, a third of the drainage is covered with leafy soil.
5. Dogwood prefers potassium-rich soil. Enrich it with lime.mixed with the substrate in a ratio of 150 g per 1 mg.
6. When placing a seedling in a pit, its roots should be neatly straightened, and   the root neck is under 2 - 3 cm of soil.
7. When filling a hole, you need to make sure that no voids appear around the roots. To avoid this trample the planted material and watered wellb.
8. Shrub is required mulch about 10 - 15 cm. This procedure is necessary so that the roots located superficially do not dry out. For this, pine needles, sawdust, straw or hay can be used.
9. 7 days after landing  the kidney near the dogwood should be compacted and re-watered.

Shrub care is an important point to get a good harvest

Dogwood does not need special care. The main thing is to constantly water it for one year from the time of planting. Watering is carried out 2 times during the week. To prevent water from spreading over the territory, it is worth making a furrow around the seedling.

In the first growing year, you need to monitor the condition of the leaves. If they begin to dry and curl, this indicates that the plant does not have enough moisture. Also during the first 3 years, gardeners need to monitor the cleanliness of the soil near the dogwood. Weeds growing at a distance of 1 m from the plant should be disposed of.

To provide improved air exchange of the layer in which the roots of the plant are located, it is necessary to periodically loosen the soil with a depth of about 10 cm. To make it more convenient to deal with this process, it is necessary to loosen the next day from the moment of irrigation.

For high yields, shrubs are fertilized several times during the year. It is believed that in the growing season dogwood needs nitrogen-phosphorus additives, and the autumn season - potash.

Some gardeners alternately bring humus and compost, or each year at the beginning of the summer period they add water with chicken manure in the ratio of 10: 1 to the plants. Others make fertilizers from 0.03 kg of ammonium nitrate and one bucket of humus. In late August, 0.5 liters of wood ash are poured under an adult plant. And at the end of the harvest, it is advisable to add 0.1 kg of superphosphates. However, lime is recognized as the most important fertilizer. Thanks to it, potassium is present in the soil, which affects the future number of fruits.

When caring for dogwood, regular soil treatment is important. It is carried out annually at least 6-7 times, regardless of the age and fruitfulness of the bush. Start processing in the spring, and end in the fall, after collecting all the fruits. The final stage of loosening the soil around the plant is its mulching.

How to transplant an ordinary dogwood?

If there is a need to transplant a plant from one site to another, bush propagation technique is applied.

For one year, this method can be used in early spring or late autumn. The plant is removed from the soil and freed from old branches. The root is cleaned of soil, and the bush is cut into several parts. The roots are trimmed, the old processes are cleaned. Then the individual parts are planted in prepared wells.

Ordinary dogwood is a long-liver. It can bring magnificent harvests for 100 years. Therefore, if you plant a cornel, it will delight more than one generation with its delicious and healthy berries.

Plant dogwood (lat. Cornus) belongs to the family of the family Kizilovye, representatives of which in nature number about fifty. Most often they are deciduous woody plants - shrubs or trees, but sometimes they are herbaceous perennials or woody winter-green plants. The genus Kizil consists of four subgenera. The word "dogwood", borrowed from the Turkic language, means "red" - apparently, by the color of the berries of the most famous type of dogwood. Plants of this genus are common in Eastern and Southern Europe, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, China and Japan. People started cultivating dogwood a very long time ago: the Romans and the ancient Greeks were selecting the best plant forms for cultivation in gardens and, as Virgil claimed, not without success. Dogwood began to be grown in the middle lane in the 17th century, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a great lover of all kinds of plant wonders, and interest in dogwood was caused by the extreme usefulness of its fruits, which were used as a decoction in those days.

The first immigrants to America used dogwood for brushing their teeth, and American aborigines used to make arrows. Later, shuttles for weaving equipment, door handles, knobs for hammers, and tennis rackets were made from very hardwood dogwood. It is claimed that even the Holy Cross was made of dogwood. The dogwood flower of the Pacific is the official flower of British Columbia, a province in Canada, and the flowering dogwood tree is the official tree of the US states of Missouri and Virginia.

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• Landing:  in the fall, at the very beginning of leaf fall.
• Bloom:  in April-May.
• Lighting:  penumbra.
• The soil:  rich in lime. Ground water on the site should lie no higher than 1.5 m.
• Watering:  moderate and regular.
• Feeding:  in the first half of the growing season, the nitrogen component should prevail in the fertilizer, and in the second half, the potassium component.
• Cropping:  regular, during dormancy - in late winter or early spring.
• Reproduction:  green cuttings, layering, grafting or seeds.
• Pests:  coleworms and multicolor caterpillars.
• Disease  rust, powdery mildew, leaf spotting.

Read more about growing dogwood below

Dogwood shrub - description

The most famous representative of the genus is the common dogwood bush, or male dogwood, up to 2.5 m high with shiny red-orange hanging shoots that, when in contact with the soil, easily root, bright green opposite or alternating leaves and milky-white flowers collected in inflorescences up to 5 cm in diameter, which bloom in May and bloom for two weeks. Dogwood fruits with one or two seeds, ripening from August to October, differ in both shape and color. In cultural forms, they reach a length of 3 cm, the shape is usually elongated-cylindrical, but there are species with almost round fruits like cherries, as well as barrel-shaped and even pear-shaped.

The fruit color is usually bright red, but forms with pink, yellow, purple and even black berries are known. And to taste the berries of dogwood vary: they can be sweet, tart or tart-sweet, juicy or dry. The plant itself can be formed both in the form of a bush, and in the form of a tree. Dogwood is quite hardy, but at the temperature of -30 ºC the ends of shoots are frost-bitten on it. Dogwood bush has been living for over a hundred years.

Dogwood landing

When to plant dogwood

It is easy to guess the time when it was time to plant a dogwood - as soon as the poplar leaves begin to fall. Planting dogwood in autumn is preferable to spring because in spring you will have to plant dogwood in a very short time interval between how the earth warms up and sometimes when the dogwood buds begin to bloom. For a cornel, select a semi-shady area with lime-rich soil on the south or south-west side, on which groundwater lies no more than one and a half meters. Dogwood grows in acidic soils, however, this negatively affects both its development and crop quality.

Dogwood is located no closer than 3-5 meters from the fence, buildings and other trees. In order for the cornel to bear fruit, it should have steam in the garden, or two, and it is better to place them no further than 3-5 meters from each other.

How to plant a dogwood

Dogwood seedlings ready for planting should be two-year-old, about 1.5 m high, with a trunk diameter of about 2 cm, they should have 3-5 skeletal branches. Dogwood is planted in a pit with a diameter and depth of about 80 cm. After digging a hole, drive a stake into it, to which you will then attach a seedling. The stake is driven from the side where the wind usually blows.

Mix the upper, fertile layer of soil removed from the pit with humus and mineral fertilizers, pour a hill from it in the center of the pit, set a dogwood seedling on a hill, carefully spread its roots, fill the hole with fertile soil with fertilizers, supporting the seedling so that its root the neck was 3-4 cm above the site level. Pour the seedling with three buckets of water, and when it is absorbed, the soil will settle, and the neck will be flush with the surface, cut the seedling shoots a third of the length, tie it to the support and mulch the near-stem circle with humus or dry soil from the lower, less fertile soil layer.

Dogwood Care

How to grow dogwood in the garden

Planting and caring for dogwood are not much different from planting and caring for any other fruit shrubs - wild rose or barberry, for example. It consists in the care of dogwood in irrigation, loosening the soil on the site, removing weeds from it, pruning plant shoots and top dressing.

The peculiarity of dogwood is that there is no periodicity in its bearing, that is, it gives a crop annually. The harvesting of the next year’s crop is carried out in May-June of the current year, and by the end of the vegetative period, flower buds, which are formed simultaneously with the growth of shoots, must be finally formed. That is why it is so important to water and fertilize dogwood in a timely manner. In order for the water not to spread over the site, but to go to the superficially located root system, make a circular furrow around the bush and pour water into it.

Try to maintain balance in the hydration of dogwood: there should be enough water, but excessive watering is unacceptable. After irrigation, the soil in the area is loosened no deeper than 8-10 cm, while getting rid of weeds. As for top dressing, in the first half of the season fertilizers with a nitrogen-phosphorus component are used, and in the second they focus on potash - for example, wood ash is introduced into the soil. Dogwood responds well to compost and humus, but the most important for the growth and fruiting of dogwood is the presence of calcium in the soil - keep this in mind.

Dogwood pruning

Dogwood cultivation involves regular pruning of shrubs. In winter or early spring, during dormancy, remove from the bush all damaged, dry and frostbitten branches, which are easy prey for fungi or harmful insects. Before cutting the branch, dip the scissors in a bleach solution with a consistency of 1: 3 so as not to transfer the causative agents of the diseases that may have settled on the dogwood onto healthy branches.

Shorten or trim too old stems to the base to stimulate the growth of new shoots. Cut branches and shoots growing inside the bush. If your bush is grafted, remove all shoots below the graft site. Most likely, you will not have to do the forming pruning, since the plant has a natural beautiful crown.

Dogwood pests and diseases

As a rule, dogwood is not affected by pests or diseases. But sometimes, very rarely, the plant suffers from a fungal disease, rust, which is manifested by yellow spots on the leaves. Destroy the fungus by treating the plant with Bordeaux liquid. Dogwood is also rarely affected by powdery mildew, which is fought with colloidal sulfur, as well as spotting, against which dogwood is treated with the same Bordeaux mixture. Of the pests, the cornel dogworm and the caterpillar-multiflora may disturb the pests — the first is destroyed by treating the plant with lime, and the second by Parisian herbs.

Dogwood in the suburbs

For some reason, it is customary to think that dogwood in Moscow and the Moscow Region does not take root, but this is not true. Breeders have bred plant varieties that can tolerate thirty-degree frosts, so dogwood normally develops and bears fruit abundantly in the middle band. Planting and caring for dogwood in the suburbs is no different from growing a plant, for example, in the Stavropol Territory or in Ukraine.

Sometimes, however, the ends of its young shoots are frost-bitten in winter, so in the spring they have to be cut. In order to avoid such unpleasant surprises, the young dogwood for the winter should be covered with burlap for several years, and the muzzle circle of the dogwood, both young and adult, should be mulched with a thick layer of peat or humus for the winter.

Dogwood propagation

How to breed dogwood

In amateur gardening dogwood is propagated mainly vegetatively, however seed propagation is quite possible.

Growing dogwood from bone

Dogwood bones are cleaned of pulp and put in moist moss or sawdust for a whole year, constantly maintaining a moist environment - this is how seeds are stratified before sowing. Cornel bone does not break up into cotyledons; therefore, it must be immersed in the soil no more than 3 cm.

Unstratified seeds germinate only after two years, and far from all. Stratified seeds germinate in the year of sowing. Seed care is usual: watering, feeding, weeding, shading from scorching rays at the very beginning of growth. In the first year, seedlings grow only up to 3-4 cm, by the end of the second - up to 10-15 cm, and in autumn they can be planted in open ground in a nursery. Fruits cornel from seeds only after 7-10 years.

For seed propagation, seeds of wild dogwood species are used, then when young seedlings grow out of them, they are used as rootstocks for cultivated dogwood species.

Dogwood propagation by cuttings

Only green cuttings from bushes no younger than 5-6 years old are suitable for grafting dogwood - lignified cuttings take root very poorly. Cuttings 10-15 cm long are cut early in the morning from shoots in the phase of active growth, each should have a well-developed growth point and two pairs of leaves. Cuttings after cutting immediately put in water. The oblique lower section should pass below the kidney by half a centimeter-centimeter.

Before planting, the cuttings are deprived of the lower pair of leaves and incubated for six to twelve hours in a three percent heteroauxin solution. Then they are washed, planted at an angle of 45 ° in a shady place, in the soil, sprinkled on top with a layer of well-washed sand with a thickness of 7-10 cm, and covered with polyethylene so that there is a backlash of 15-20 cm between the film and the cuttings. After planting, the cuttings are watered , and in the future, the soil is kept in a slightly wet state, preventing direct sunlight from reaching the cuttings.

Water the site through a fine sieve so that the water does not pour, but is sprayed. The temperature under the film should be around 25 ºC, and as soon as it rises above, raise the film for ventilation. The cuttings take root in two to three weeks, after which they begin to harden - it will take about two weeks to do this, then the film is removed, and the strengthened cuttings are fed with liquid ammonium nitrate (30 g per bucket of water). Next fall, bushes are planted in a permanent place.

Dogwood propagation by vaccination

Crowning is carried out in August-September on planted and rooted two-year-old wild dogwood seedlings, and cultivated plant varieties are used as scion. With a sharp knife on the rootstock, an incision is made crosswise - horizontally and vertically, and a vertical incision is made up to 3 cm deep. A kidney with a bark, leaf petiole and part of wood is cut from the graft, inserted into a vertical incision, carefully pushing the bark on it to the side , and fix the scion with a bud tape (you can use stationery tape).

In two or three weeks, if you did everything right, the stalk will fall off. In October, the film can be removed. Emerging shoots of stock should be removed.

Dogwood propagation by layering

As layering, horizontal arcuate annual shoots are used. In the spring, as soon as the soil warms up, dig it around the dogwood bush with the addition of fertilizers, level it, make grooves in it, bend and lay out the planned shoots in them, pin them and sprinkle them in the place of attachment with soil, and pinch the tops. When green shoots with a height of 10-12 cm develop in the places of attachment at the cuttings, sprinkle them to half with earth, after 2-3 weeks, when the shoots will add the same amount of growth, sprinkle them to half again.

In the fall or next spring, cuttings are separated from the parent plant and planted in a permanent place.

Dogwood propagation by dividing the bush

They resort to this method when you have to transplant a dogwood bush to a new place. In the spring, before the buds swell, or in the fall, a month before the frosts, they dig up dogwood, remove all old branches from it, carefully release the root system from the soil and cut the bush into several approximately equal parts, each of which has good roots and healthy aboveground part. Before planting, the old roots are cut, the rest is slightly shortened.

Dogwood is also propagated by root offspring, if they grow from a root plant, the shoot is separated from the bush and transplanted to a new place. In a grafted plant, the root shoot grows from a stock - a wild dogwood species, you are unlikely to need it.

Types and varieties of dogwood

Dogwood (Cornus mas)

The most famous species of the genus is dogwood, an ordinary description of which we already gave. We add only that the most popular forms of dogwood are:

• Pyramidalis  - dogwood with a pyramidal crown shape;
• Nana  - dwarf dogwood with spherical crown;
• Variegata  - dogwood with leaves bordered by a white strip;
• Aurea  - dogwood with golden leaves;
• Aurea Varigata - dogwood with yellow mottled leaves.

White dogwood (Cornus alba)

It is also a very common species in culture, which is found in natural conditions in China, Japan, Korea and almost throughout Russia. It is a shrub up to 3 m high with flexible, thin branches of predominantly red-orange color, although there are forms with black-red and red-brown branches. Its young shoots are covered with a bluish bloom. The leaves of plants of this species are broadly egg-shaped, slightly wrinkled, 10-12 cm long, dark green on the upper side of the plate, whitish from below, in the fall they turn dark red-purple. Small white flowers up to 5 cm in diameter, collected in corymbose inflorescences, abundantly cover the bush in the first half of summer and again in early autumn.

White spherical fruits with a blue tint ripen in time for the second flowering of white dogwood. This view has many decorative forms:

• silver-edged  - a plant with a creamy white border on the leaves, which in the fall from green become carmine-red. The color of the bark is also red. Bush height 2-3 m;
• Elegantissima  - a very winter-hardy fast-growing form of dogwood up to 3 m high with spectacular red shoots that catch the eye in winter and leaves with uneven cream bordering, spots and stripes;
• Siberia Aurea  - a bush 1.5-2 m tall with pale yellow leaves on erect red shoots and creamy white flowers, sometimes blooming repeatedly in the fall, simultaneously with the ripening of bluish fruits;
• Siberia of Variegat  - a dogwood of two meters height with wide creamy-white bordering, stripes and spots on the leaves, which in the autumn change the green background to purple, and the border and nettle are still creamy. Shoots in winter retain the red-coral color of the bark. This plant bears fruit weakly, grows slowly, very suitable for small gardens.

Dogwood red, or blood red (Cornus sanguinea)

It grows in the undergrowth of deciduous and mixed forests, along the banks of rivers and lakes from the Baltic to the lower reaches of the Don and from the south of Scandinavia to the Balkans. This is a deciduous shrub up to 4 m high with a branched crown and drooping shoots of different colors - green, red, purple. Its leaves are round, ovoid, bright green with small pubescence on the upper side and densely pubescent, and hence whitish, from the lower. In the fall, the leaves turn bright red. Small, dull, whitish flowers make up corymbose multifloral inflorescences up to 7 cm in diameter. They bloom 15-20 days.

Numerous black fruits look elegant and contrasting against a background of bright red leaves. Decorative forms of dogwood red:

• Greenest  - with shoots, leaves and fruits of green color;
• Variegata  - a shrub up to 4 m high with variegated yellow leaves and soft green young shoots, which become maroon with age. The fruits are blue-black;
• Dogwood mitch  - leaves of this form are pale yellow in small spots.

Blooming dogwood (Cornus florida)

Originally from eastern North America. This is a deciduous tree with a spreading dense crown, which blooms before the leaves open. Autumn foliage is bright red. Varieties:

• Cherokee Chief  - the height of the tree is 4-6 m, the bracts are red-pink;
• Rubra  - brektey from light pink to bright red, the height of the bush 4-6 m.

Cornel stigonifera (Cornus stolonifera)

Also from North America, where it grows in moist forests along the banks of watercourses, climbing to a height of 450 to 2700 m above sea level. The species is close to white dogwood, but differs primarily in its ability to give a lot of offspring around the bush. This is a shrub up to 2.5 m high with shiny red coral shoots, bright green leaves, milky white flowers collected in inflorescences up to 5 cm in diameter and bluish-white fruits.

Decorative forms of offspring dogwood are:

• White-fringed, to which the variety belongs White gold  - medium-sized shrub with a white border at the edges of green leaves;
• Flaviramea  - a fast-growing shrub with a round shape of the bush, height and width of 2-3 m. Its bark is yellow in winter and spring, and yellowish-green in summer and autumn. The foliage is green, reddish in autumn, but not all - many leaves do not change color;
• Kelsey  - dwarf shrub no more than a meter high and up to one and a half meters wide with a reddish or bright green bark and green leaves that do not fall until late autumn, although they change color to orange or dark red.

Dogwood Coase (Cornus kousa)

It grows in nature in Japan and China. It is a winter-hardy deciduous shrub up to 9 m high with graceful graceful bracts. In autumn, the leaves become bright red. Varieties:

• Gold Star  - green leaves with a yellow pattern, bush height 5-7 m;
• Milky Way  - a tall bush, cream-white brateye.

There is a number of creeping dogwoods that botanists distinguish into a separate genus - Swedish and Canadian dogwoods, the Svid family, which includes Georgian and Meyer dogwoods, stands apart.

Dogwood properties - harm and benefit

Useful properties of dogwood

When the medicinal properties of dogwood are described in the literature, they are primarily referring to plants of the dogwood species. What is useful dogwood, and what properties does it actually have?

Firstly, its fruits contain vitamin C in larger quantities than lemon, and have an anti-zingotic effect, so pasta is made from cornel fruit for astronauts and long-distance sailors.

Secondly, the tannins contained in the fruits hold the stool together. Berries are also useful for patients with diabetes mellitus, because they reduce blood sugar and increase the activity of the pancreas in the production of the necessary enzyme. It has anti-inflammatory dogwood, choleretic, diuretic, bactericidal and astringent. Dogwood berries increase appetite, improve digestion, normalize blood pressure, relieve headache, accelerate metabolic processes in the body.

Dogwood is used in the treatment of cystitis, gout, skin diseases, leg edema, inflammation of the veins, intestinal diseases, including diarrhea and dysentery. I must say that not only the cornel fruit, but also its flowers, bark, leaves and roots possess healing qualities.

We offer you several recipes that can help out in difficult times:

Dogwood fruit broth:  pour a tablespoon of dried berries in a glass of water, boil over low heat for 20 minutes, then insist for 2 hours, strain and take with vitamin deficiency a quarter cup 3 times a day before meals.

A decoction of bark and cornel roots:  pour a teaspoon of crushed roots and bark with a glass of water and boil for 15 minutes, then insist for two hours, strain and drink with rheumatism 3 times a day, 2 tablespoons.

In addition, dogwood drinks and jam are also remarkable for their healing and palatability. Dogwood fruits are dried for the winter and a delicious and healthy broth is prepared from them.

   Honey plants Ornamental deciduous plants on K Dogwood

After this article they usually read

Dogwood is not a frequent visitor at the sites of Russian gardeners; many are simply afraid to plant this plant because of its heat loving nature; they consider growing dogwood a troublesome and ungrateful affair. And completely in vain! In the article, we consider the step-by-step cultivation of dogwood in the suburbs, propagation by cuttings and determine where and when to plant a flower.

Dogwood normally belongs to the Siberian frosts, however, at a temperature below -30 it freezes a little. But this is easily prevented by good shelter. And so that in the heat of +40 the leaves on a young tree do not dry, the cornel must be pritenit plantings of sunflower or corn. Dogwood absolutely does not need any special care. But for its fruits to ripen, it is advisable to plant early varieties in the gardens of the middle strip.

Dogwood berries have not only an amazing taste, but also a medicinal purpose (involved in the treatment of vitamin deficiency, anemia, skin diseases, hemorrhoids, removes heavy metals). Dogwood can grow as a bush or tree with a height of 2-5 m and a trunk diameter of 25 to 45 centimeters. Both the bush and the tree can be formed using pruning.

Dogwood propagation methods

Gardeners use four main methods of breeding dogwood:

1. From the seeds.
2. From layering.
3. From cuttings.
4. With the help of budding.

Seed propagation

Dogwood seed is a stone located inside a juicy oval or pear-shaped fruit of a small size. The length of the bone varies from 0.7 cm to 1.5 cm. To breed dogwood, only high-quality seed material is needed, the seeds should be the largest and most mature. To begin with, they should be freed from the pulp, then washed and soaked in water - this is a kind of germination test. High-quality seeds with good germination will remain at the bottom, and non-germinating seeds will float to the surface. They need to be collected and simply thrown away.

  The smaller the bone, the greater the amount of pulp in the dogwood fruit.

Propagation of dogwood by seeds is not an easy and quick task. Usually it reproduces with the help of layering, cuttings or vaccinations. But if this is not possible, then you can grow dogwood from a seed according to a certain method, which has its own characteristics. To obtain guaranteed and high-quality seedlings, stratification of seeds is necessary.

What is the seed preparation methodology:

1. Put the berries in a bag or in a barrel.
2. Wait until they wander.
3. Remove from bag or barrel, grind and rinse.
4. Place the bones in the sawdust and leave for storage for a year and a half.

Storage temperature should be within 0 ° C. After a year and a half, in the spring, plant the seeds in the prepared soil. In the first year of life, the seedlings will be small (3-4 cm in height), but next year they will be pulled up to 20 cm. It must be borne in mind that this method of growing dogwood is quite long. The plant will be ready for fruiting only after 7-10 seasons. Therefore, you should think about how to get this wonderful shrub or tree in your own way in a different way.

Propagation using layering

This method can be called the simplest. To obtain high-quality layering, one- or two-year-old shoots with a developed growth are needed. For this procedure, early spring is best suited when the ground has already thawed.

1. Under the plant, intended to obtain layering, you should carefully dig the earth, apply fertilizer and level.
2. Bend and pin the selected shoot (or several) by pinching the top.
3. After the appearance of 10-12-centimeter young green shoots from the branches of the buds, add moist, fertile soil or humus, covering them to half.
4. After two to three weeks after the shoots regrowth another 15 cm, repeat the backfilling.

It is important to ensure that the soil on the lay does not dry out, it must always be moist.  Layers will take root throughout the year. Next spring, you need to carefully separate the young seedling and plant it on the designated area. If cuttings were made in the fall, then they need to be planted, respectively, the next fall, and not in the spring.

Propagation using cuttings

This method is not used very often, since only about half of the cuttings are successfully rooted:

1. Cuttings 10-15 cm long are cut from powerful healthy bushes, the age of which is from 5 years. This is usually done in early summer (June-early July).
2. Then you should remove all the leaves below, leaving only a couple of top.
3. Soak cuttings in a growth stimulator for 5-10 hours, dropping them into the solution with the lower ends.
4. Rinse the cuttings thoroughly under water.
5. Land in prepared greenhouses. A cold greenhouse for dogwood cuttings is done like this: clean a small piece of land from rubbish and weeds, dig it up, cover it with a seven-centimeter layer of large, sifted, well-washed sand. This greenhouse should be in partial shade.
6. Plant cuttings at an angle, tightly. The film should not touch the cuttings, from them to the film should be at least 20 cm.
7. Spill well using a fine sprinkler on a watering can.
8. Close the greenhouse with foil.

It is important to plant cuttings at an angle, this will help to properly form the root system.

Propagation through budding

This method can also be called simple and affordable. This procedure is carried out in the second half of summer (July-early August). A stock is a one or two year old seedling. Many experts believe that budding is the only reliable method of reproduction, since about 70% of the eyes take root. At the end of the growing season, ocular plants reach 80 centimeters in height, already in the fall they plant on the designated area, and after two or three years, fruiting begins on young dogwood, unlike seed propagation, when the fruits appear on the 7th or 8th year.

When to plant dogwood

Climatic conditions are of great importance. In the southern region, the best time to plant is early autumn (first half of September), so that the seedling has time to form a strong root system before frost. In the northern region, spring planting is recommended, the main thing is to catch it before the buds begin to bloom.

Where better to plant dogwood

The choice of landing site should be taken with all seriousness, as the dogwood life span is up to three hundred years! And a century later, he will give a harvest of delicious, beautiful and healthy fruits, as if nothing had happened. Your great-great-grandchildren will cook aromatic cornel jam and commemorate you with a kind word! For dogwood seedlings, the open sun does not matter. It will also grow well on a semi-shady area, slightly obscured by other, higher plants.

Dogwood is equally inherent in shade tolerance and photophilousness. If the site is well lit, the dogwood will bloom early. On the other hand, he does not tolerate summer heat under the scorching rays of the sun. The best for him is a small partial shade. Dogwood location is not allowed near the fence, buildings and other trees, between them should be at least 3-5 meters.

Which soil is suitable for dogwood?

Dogwood does not have special requirements for soil composition, but it is with great pleasure that it grows on calcareous soil, which contains a sufficient amount of manganese - about 40 mg per kilogram of soil. Despite its resistance to drought, it still prefers moderately moist soils.If the drought is prolonged, the dogwood reacts to this by twisting the leaves, flower buds do not occur, and growth shoots reduce the length, which, of course, negatively affects the overall development of the plant.

Tip # 1. To achieve an increase in the size of berries, you should regularly water the dogwood during fruiting.

Dog food at different times of the year

Gardeners use the following dressings:

Time spending	What to soil	What to water	Dosage
Autumn	Organics (humus) Superphosphate Do not deposit nitrogen!		2 kg / m2 2 tbsp without slide on 1 m2
Before flowering When the fruits are tied and poured		Organic Flask	According to instructions
After harvesting		Complex of mineral fertilizers for fruit crops	2-3 buckets per tree

What you need to know when landing dogwood

Ideally, the best seedling age is 1 year. A plant at this age will be better able to adapt to local conditions, such as soil composition, light exposure, neighboring plants, climate. It is recommended to choose a cornel seedling in a local horticultural nursery - there the plants acquire growth skills.

If the root system of the purchased seedling is in the container, then the engraftment at the planting site will occur much faster, since the root system in the first year of life in the nursery acquired a certain microflora necessary for the good development of the cornel tree. Separation of an earthen coma with a colony of beneficial bacteria will cause dogwood to “freeze” in development for 2-4 years. Therefore, you need to plant dogwood from the nursery along with a soil lump.

  It is best to buy dogwood seedlings in a local nursery, they are already adapted to the local climate.

For planting, seedlings should have the indicators shown in the table below:

When planting a dogwood, certain rules must be observed:

1. At the landing pit, the usual diameter is 0.8 m, the depth is 0.6-0.8 m.
2. When digging a hole, you need to separate the soil layers - upper, fertile, folded on one side, lower, less fertile - on the other.
3. Pour crushed stone or expanded clay (for drainage) to the bottom of the pit - at least 10 centimeters.
4. On this layer lay the fertile soil previously selected from the pit.
5. Insert the seedling with an earthen lump and cover it with the remaining soil.
6. Leave the root neck 3-4 cm above the ground level (after watering and shrinkage of the soil, the neck will equal the level of the ground surface).
7. Gently pour three buckets of water under the just planted tree, wait for the absorption of moisture and precipitation of the soil.
8. Trim the seedling by 1/3 (the height of the stem should remain at least 0.5-0.6 m), tie it to the column and apply mulch. Dogwood sapling absolutely does not need high-fertile soil, respectively, before planting in the landing pit there should not be any fertilizer.

Using mulch in dogwood care

As mulch are used:

• mowed grass or removed weed (preferably slightly wilted first);
• peat;
• straw or hay;
• rotted sawdust (if fresh ones are used, lime powder must be added to the soil).

Tip # 2.It is necessary to remove the young shoots formed from the root to the eighth year of dogwood life. Abandonment will result in the death of the vaccine.

Why dogwood needs spartan conditions

In the first three years of life, the plant is tuned to specific conditions in which it will grow all its long life and which it learns to perceive as the norm. Suppose, during the first three years, the dogwood is carefully looked after, fed this, this, and then again! - something went wrong, and the food supply dropped sharply. Dogwood can stop bearing fruit from stress and even die! And it's not a joke.

Everything will be exactly the opposite, if in the fourth year there will be an improvement in the living conditions of the plant: fertilizing with fertilizers will increase, moisture and heat will also increase, there will be more sunlight, pruning of branches and processing from diseases will produce better. This will give a good impetus to the growing tree to develop and increase productivity.

Dogwood diseases and pests. Ways of protection.

Dogwood can be called one of the most disease-resistant fruit trees. But, as the saying goes, there is a trickle on the old woman. The table below lists the main diseases of dogwood and methods of "treatment":

Disease name	What to apply	Mode of application
1. Brown fringed spotting (rust)	bordeaux fluid (spring) lime (late autumn)	Spraying affected areas
2. Powdery Mildew	phosphorus and potash fertilizers ground sulfur flask of rotted manure	Soil application Spraying affected areas

Dogwood is sometimes attacked by pests, but this is extremely rare. The table below lists possible dogwood pests:

Dogwood varieties resistant to disease

1. Alyosha. An early ripe variety that tolerates frost. Not susceptible to disease, as it has no pathogens. The color of the berries is bright yellow, the weight is from 3.5 to 5 grams.
2. Elena. Early variety, tolerates cold to -35 degrees, disease resistance is excellent. Fruits are dark red, when overripe, they may crumble.
3. Nikolka. Very early variety with good disease resistance and excellent yield. Almost black fruits, the weight of one fruit is about 6 grams, the taste is sweet and sour.
4. Varieties with similar properties: Elegant, Vladimirsky, Gentle, Firefly, Semen.

Answers to the most common questions of gardeners for growing dogwood

Question number 1.How to prepare dogwood for wintering?

Dogwood is a frost-resistant plant; it can tolerate wintering without additional warming, costing only mulching around the trunk or bending to the ground (if it is a bush) and throwing leaves. In case of frosty and snowless winters, a young shrub can be covered with coniferous branches or covering material, but in case of heavy snowfalls it can be freed from shelter, enabling the dogwood to winter under a snowdrift.

Question number 2.Is it necessary to carry out special pruning of dogwood to increase fruit bearing?

There is no such need. It is only necessary to remove the branches intertwined with each other, for thinning the crown to give access to sunlight to other fruit branches.

Question number 3.When does dogwood begin to bear fruit?

On the grafted seedling, the first berries will appear in the second year of life, starting from the fifth year, it is time for real crops. Seedlings grown from seeds will begin to bear fruit only in the eighth year.

The main mistakes gardeners in growing dogwood

Despite the fact that dogwood does not require any special attitude to growing, there are some rules, violation of which can lead to a deplorable result.

Error 1.  Single plant

Many gardeners, planting one tree or dogwood bush, believe that this will be enough for the family. For the family, maybe enough, but not for dogwood. This is a serious mistake. The plant will bear fruit, but it cannot be called a crop piece berries on a tree. In order for the cornel to bear fruit abundantly, it must have a pair, that is, at least one or two plants in a radius of 3-5 meters, it does not matter in the same area or in the neighboring one, but you can even do with wild plants growing outside the garden.

Error 2.  Incorrect root deepening during landing

The root neck must be aligned with the ground. When it is deepened over time, a large number of young shoots will form near the trunk, while leaving the neck above the ground - the seedling’s survival time will increase, which will negatively affect the further development of the tree.

Error 3.  Deep loosening

The permissible soil loosening depth around the trunk is not more than 10 centimeters. With deeper loosening, damage to the roots is possible.

Error 4.  Landing in a swampy area

Dogwood tolerates drought better than waterlogged soil. Dogwood landing area should be well-drained. Groundwater should not come close to the surface of the soil, it is better if they will be 1.5-2 meters.