Description

Key Information:

Soil: Hydric (Wet) – Mesic (Medium)
Sun: Full Sun – Shade
Height: 3-10 feet
Bloom Color: White
Bloom Season: June – September

More Details:

Suggested Uses: Red Osier Dogwood is a shrub that has beautiful vibrant red twigs and and is beautiful in all seasons!  It does extremely well on moist soils and is often used for shoreline restoration and large rain gardens. Flowers are showy, white and fragrant.  This shrub provides cover and food for a variety of wildlife, especially waterfowl and shorebirds, and is good for attracting other birds and butterflies to the landscape.

Native Range: Native throughout most of the U.S. except the South. Native throughout the state of Minnesota.

Pollinators/Habitat: Bees, butterflies and beneficial wasps. It is the larval host for the Spring Azure butterfly.  The berries are very attractive to birds and mammals.

Flowers: The 4 petaled flowers grow in flat-topped clusters 1″-2″ wide and produce white, berry-like seeds.
Leaves: The opposite, ovate leaves are 2″-4″ long with curving veins. They grow on deep red, smooth twigs.

Indigenous names: Čhaŋšáša (Lakota), miskwaabiimizh (Anishinaabemowin)

Other Names: Kinnikinnick (Note: Michigan Bearberry also goes by this common name but they are two different plants). Cornus stolonifera.

More information: USDA plant profile