April Plant Spotlight: Kousa Dogwood

 April’s plant spotlight is the Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa). While most North Carolinians are well-acquainted with our state flower, the native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), there is another stunning relative worth considering for your landscape: the Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa). Native to Japan, Korea, and China, the Kousa offers a slight different aesthetic and bloom schedule that can extend the “dogwood season” in your garden. 

The Kousa dogwood typically reaches a mature size of 15 to 30 feet tall and wide – very similar to our native dogwood. However, it is a slow grower, often reaching only about 10 feet in its first 15 years. The "flowers" of the Kousa are pointed bracts (modified leaves) that surround the tiny, inconspicuous true flowers. Unlike the native dogwood, which blooms on bare branches, the Kousa blooms several weeks later—usually in late April or May—after its leaves have already emerged. This provides a lush, green backdrop for the creamy-white bracts. In the fall, the foliage transforms into vibrant shades of purple, red, and yellow. It also produces pinkish-red fruit that looks like a large, bumpy raspberry and are showy from September through October. 

If you are looking for a hardy, show-stopping tree that extends the beauty of spring well into May, the Kousa Dogwood is a great addition to the landscape. 

And remember, that unlike the native dogwood, which blooms on bare branches, the Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) blooms several weeks later—usually in late April or May—after its leaves have already emerged. Image by Jim Robbins CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu