They say that every dog has its day; and the same is true of dogwoods. Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’ (Cornus stolonifera ‘Flaviramea’) is not a plant that usually gets my blood rushing but yesterday, in a quick break in the clouds between the almost never-ending rains, my new group of this easy, tough plant was the prettiest thing in the neighbourhood! Not only was it looking lovely, the whole planting was free.

This was a new bed that I made in spring 2013. I planted 5 golden alders and wanted an underplanting. Unfortunately I discovered that the soil is very shallow and often wet – hence the alders – and was really nasty, heavy clay. There was a rather neglected cornus in the garden and, last February, in too much of a rush, I took some stems off and pushed them in the ground. The stems were too thin, and put in too late, and they barely survived, let alone grew. But I had cut the cornus back hard and during that summer it grew back well, with strong stems. So last autumn I repeated the strategy and took more cuttings. These were about 40cm long and ‘planted’ by pushing a crowbar in the soil and dropping the cuttings in place. The bed was mulched with mushroom compost and some of that probably fell down the holes. Anyway, this spring they started to grow and they have done fabulously well, making at least 1m of growth.

In summer the leaves are green and after the leaves fall the yellow/green stems look good all winter. I will cut them back hard in March to encourage more, colourful, new growth. Few plants are easier to grow. It thrives in full sun and in wet soils though will also grow in part shade. The green-stemmed (wild) form is native to North America, largely in Canada and the northern and western states of the USA.

Geoff’s rating

8/10

(10/10 right now)

Garden rating

9/10

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