Golden Variegated Dogwood Plants

Cornus Alba Spaethii Hedging

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Cornus alba Spaethii is a vigorous shrub with lightly variegated leaves and red bark on its young stems. All dogwoods are easy to keep looking great and Cornus alba Spaethii adds to their summer foliage spectrum with the golden-yellow margins of its variegated leaves. It is vigorous and the red bark has fantastic ornamental value in winter time, especially when it is planted in big clumps, either by itself or with other coloured dogwood varieties. It bears little white flowers in May that become pale bluey-white fruit, however, these are not very showy and it is really the crimson bark that most gardeners are after. Cornus Spaethii is usually planted as an ornamental bush, but it can also be used in a mixed hedge plant. It is suitable for any damp soil and if happy will reach 3-4 metres.

View our selection of dogwood shrub hedging or see our full range of hedging.

Cornus alba Spaethii plants are only delivered bareroot, during winter (Nov-April). All our dogwood are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots don't count).

History & uses of Spaethii Dogwood: 

This variety was released in 1884 and has won an RHS Award of Garden Merit. Very useful where attractive summer foliage is needed as well as winter bark colour

Growing Cornus alba Spaethii plants:
Dogwoods will grow well in any soil, but need at least half a day of full sun. They love waterlogged soil, but will also grow well on drier sites if you improve the soil with well rotted compost and manure before planting. Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Planting Accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Neudorff WeedFree Plus.  We recommend using Rootgrow on the roots of new trees and shrubs.

After Care

After you have planted Cornus alba Spaethii , the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. You will also need to weed around the plants. Watering should be thorough, so the ground is soaked. Let the soil almost dry out before watering again. Watering & weeding will be necessary for at least a year after planting.

Trimming Dogwood plants:
Specimen shrubs: To get loads of bright new stems each winter, all you need to do is to coppice (hard prune) your plants, starting in their first year after planting.
In March, use clean secateurs to cut all the stems down to about 15cm, 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 touching, the plants. You can do this every year, but every other year is sufficient and better for the local wildlife.
Hedges: Immediately after planting, cut the plants back by 50% and then trim them with the rest of the hedge as normal.

Hygiene & Diseases: Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.