Cornus colour problem

I have four different cornus a red, a "black", orange (Midwinter Fire) and lime green (Flaviramea). The last two are growing very well, too well really, but the stems are ordinary green with a trace of orange on the Midwinter Fire. So is stem colouration affected by shade levels or is there another reason?

 

Hi Nigel, I find that the stems of Midwinter Fire fade over the year to yellowy green. That's why it's recommended to chop them in Spring so the new, brightly-coloured stems make a show the following autumn and winter. The downside of doing that too severely though is that it runs all over the place!

 

@noisette47
I pruned all of them hard this last spring. So these are all this years growth.

 

Stem colour comes in the autumn Nigel. Patience

 

@Verdun
Probably, they've been there 15+years but this was the first time for many years I cut them all hard back, normally I cut down roughly half the stems every spring.

 

Superb colour if cut back hard though Nigel in spring. Winter stems....red, yellow, orange, whatever variety....are lovely