Dogwood

Morning all,

Ive planted four dog woods about a month ago and just wondered when i should give them their first hard prune ? Im looking to get the straight stems for winter interest.

G

 

I prune mine in early March. You could do them a bit earlier, but they are still providing colour then - so depends what else you have either contrasting with them, or when the next batch shows some interest.

Stick them in your veg patch or herbaceous border as pea sticks - you'll probably find a good proportion will grow, which you can then give away / sell / swap whatever

 

I prune mine a little later being in Scotland but totally agree with Kristen re timing for where you live. Hope you have planted Winter Flame which is lovely. Something at the back of my mind tells me that with both Winter Flame and the red stemmed varieties you need to be a bit less vigorous with pruning the plants when young in comparison to the yellow/green stemmed types.I have quite a few and it looks like I pruned mine to about 6 to 7 inches originally. The yellow stemmed ones I prune annually to near ground level.Also agree they are a cinch to get to root if you want more etc.

 

cheers Kristan,

Would you leave them a whole season to get established so prune March 2014 or will March next year be ok ?

G

 

Thanks silu !
I will give it a go and stick some of the cuttings into the ground, might aswell
I bought one yellow stem, one green stem and two red stem ones. Sorry, totally forgotten their names

 

I would want a main stem getting on for as thick as my Thumb before I started "stooling" them annually. If the bush is 4' or 5' tall then that's big enough (if main stem is narrower)

Just thinking out loud though ...