Mottled Tatarian Dogwood - Cornus alba Gouchaultii
Dogwoods are popular because they are fast growing, happy in almost any soil and have great winter colour. Cornus alba Gouchaultii boasts all of those qualities and adds to them with its variegated, pink tinged foliage. With large, wrinkled leaves that have margins ranging in colour from cream to yellow and random wine coloured spashes, Cornus alba Gouchaultii is possibly the most interesting dogwood to look at during the summer months. If left unpruned, it will produce small white flowers from May to June, which develop into pretty white berries that are sometimes shot through with blue, like a mature cheese. However, it is the Cornus alba family's shiny red bark, rather than their flowers and fruit, that is of interest to most gardeners. Few plants can light up the winter scene like a dogwood, once their leaves have fallen. They can be used to great effect dotted around the garden or in big clumps and go very well beside a pond or river. These plants hail from the lands between Siberia and North Korea and picked up the nickname Tartarian Dogwood, after one of the large ethnic groups found there - often confused with the Mongols in the past, the ancient Tartars were in fact the first non-Mongolian tribe to be subjugated by Gengis Khan.
Caring for Cornus alba Gouchaultii
Specimens: It could not be simpler to get loads of bright new stems each winter. All you need to do is to coppice - hard prune your Gouchaultii each year, starting in their first year after planting. This will mean that you won't get any flowers but it is necessary for bark colour in winter. In March, use clean secateurs to cut all the stems down to about 15 cms, 6 inches, from ground level, varying the height of the cuts if you don't want the shape to become too uniform. After that, apply a good blanket of mulch around without touchingthe plant and leave it be until next March.
Hedges: Immediately after planting, cut back by 50% and then trim them with the rest of the hedge as normal.
Planting Cornus alba Gouchaultii
Dogwoods are vigorous plants that will do well in most places. The ideal spot is wet and in full suna bog garden, river bank or the edge of a march are all great. You will still get good growth with half a day of sun. Dry soil is fineif you are concerned about the soil quality, prepare it in advance with lots of well rotted manure and compost. If your Dogwood is looking poorly, use a quick release fertiliser once a year - one that increases the acidity of the soil is best, just before you apply their yearly mulch. The best advice is not to worry these are tough plants that are very hard to go wrong with.
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