Cornus alba
The word “dogwood” often conjures a picture of the classic trees covered in bright flowers in the spring.
But dogwoods, which are plants in the Cornus genus, come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, depending on the species.
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Tatarian aka Siberian dogwoods (Cornus alba) are shrublike and have multiple stems similar to red twig dogwoods rather than one central leader, as seen with flowering dogwood.
The stems are incredibly vibrant in flaming hues of red, orange, chartreuse, and yellow.
Plus, they tolerate soggy soil and a good amount of shade, adding incredible color even in challenging spots, with beautiful spring flowers and charming fruits in fall.
In our guide to growing dogwood, we cover how to cultivate species in the Cornus genus in your garden.
This article zeros in on C. alba, the wonderful tatarian dogwood. Here’s what I’ll cover:
What You’ll Learn
Also known as red-barked or Siberian dogwood, the name “Tatarian” refers to the Tatar people of Siberia, Manchuria, and North Korea, where the plant grows indigenously. The name is sometimes misspelled “tartarian.”
It’s also called white dogwood, as alba means white in Latin, which is a reference to the color of the flowers and berries.
Quick Look
Common name(s): Tatarian, Siberian dogwood
Plant type: Deciduous flowering tree
Hardiness (USDA Zone): 2b-7b
Native to: East and Central Asia
Bloom time / season: Spring
Exposure: Full sun to part shade
Soil type: Organically-rich, loose, well draining
Soil pH: 5.0-8.0, slightly acidic to slightly alkaline
Time to maturity: 7 years
Mature size: 10 ft wide x 10 ft high (depending on cultivar)
Best uses: Border, erosion control, hedge, pollinator garden, specimen
Taxonomy
Order: Cornales
Family: Cornaceae
Genus: Cornus
Species: Alba
Tatarian dogwood grows rapidly to about 10 feet tall and wide with a round habit and stems that don’t branch much except at the ends.
The young branches are bright red or sometimes yellow and are covered in lenticels which are small areas that look like white dots where the gases and water move in and out of the plant.
The leaves are simple, meaning the margins are smooth with no lobes, and grow opposite one another. They have an elliptical shape and come to a little point at the tips.
Lemony yellow when they first emerge, the five-inch-long leaves turn green in the summer, and yellow or reddish-purple in the fall.
Clusters of small, white to yellow blossoms open their cheery faces in May, depending on where you live, and last for several weeks.
Clusters of white or pale blue half-inch fruits, known as drupes, follow in the fall, a source of food for foraging birds.
Tatarian dogwoods are incredibly popular as ornamentals in China.
They have also been used extensively in medicine in Korea and China for their anti-inflammatory, anti-coagulating, and diuretic actions.
In the garden, a line of tatarian dogwoods makes for a gorgeous border or screen. They’re also excellent for erosion control or as specimens.
The flowers are highly attractive to beneficial native bees like the fragile miner (Andrena fragilis), the dogwood miner (A. integra), and the plated miner (A. platyparia).
Because tatarian dogwoods are extremely tolerant of pollution and smoke, they make a good option for growing close to roads or as a privacy barrier along a sidewalk.
Cut some stems in the winter after the leaves have fallen and put them in a vase to create a colorful indoor display.
How to Grow
Tatarian dogwoods are suitable for cultivation in USDA Hardiness Zones 2b to 7b, though most are happiest in Zones 3 and up.
They can also be grown in Zone 8 if you don’t experience super hot, humid summers.
Let’s take a look at their cultural requirements:
Light
Tatarian dogwoods grow well in full sun to partial shade. In shadier spots, the flowering and fall color might be reduced.
Soil
They’ll grow in anything from sandy to clay soil with a pH between 5.0 and 8.0.
Ideally, tatarian dogwoods should have organically-rich, consistently moist, well-drained soil, but they’ll adapt to dry or soggy soil as well.
Water
Your job is to keep the soil moist at all times. When it starts to dry out at all, add more moisture.
A short period of drought won’t harm the plant, but an extended dry spell during a hot time of year could harm your tatarian dogwood.
Fertilizing
You shouldn’t need to fertilize your tatarian dogwood unless your soil is incredibly depleted and the plant seems to be stunted.
The easiest way to determine what’s going on with your soil is to do a soil test.
I test my soil every year or every other year to see what’s happening and what amendments I need to add.
When you have your test results, amend the soil accordingly.
Cultivars to Select
Unless we call out otherwise, all of the Siberian dogwood cultivars on this list are suitable for Zones 3 to 7.
You’ll often see C. alba cultivars mislabelled as red osier dogwood (C. sericea) and vice versa. They’re closely related and look extremely similar.
They grow in similar conditions, so feel free to substitute a red osier if you fall in love with a particular cultivar.
But there are lots of exceptional tatarian dogwood cultivars, including these:
Bud’s Yellow
If red isn’t really your color of choice, check out ‘Bud’s Yellow.’
The bright green leaves turn an attractive yellow, red, and purple in the fall. The flowers are yellow, too, followed by white berries that the birds will devour.
It has an upright shape that is a bit taller than it is wide, with a height of about six feet.
You can find plants in #3 containers available at Nature Hills Nursery.
Chief Bloodgood
Chief Bloodgood (‘Chblzam’) is a robust shrub that grows to about six feet tall and wide, with bright green summer foliage and bright reddish-purple fall leaves.
When the leaves and snow-white berries drop, you’re treated to deep, crimson-red stems.
It maintains a nice, rounded shape, and the white spring flowers attract all the pollinators from far and wide.
This one is only hardy to Zone 4.
You can find Chief Bloodgood plants available at Nature Hills Nursery.
Creme de Mint
The mint green leaves trimmed in creamy white look good enough to eat. They look even more delicious when they take on a pinky red tinge in the fall.
This cultivar is more heat tolerant than many others and will grow happily in Zone 8. It can reach up to five feet tall and wide with a compact, rounded shape.
Creme de Mint™ looks best when you plant it in full sun, as that’s what brings out the distinct variegation and brightest stem coloration.
You can find this showy shrub available at Nature Hills.
Ivory Halo
Also known as ‘Bailhalo,’ Ivory Halo® is dense and compact, growing to just five feet tall and wide.
Proving that good things come in small packages, the leaves are an eye-catching green with cream margins.
Unlike other variegated types, this one doesn’t tend to shed leaves in the summer heat. The RHS liked it so much that they gave it their Award of Garden Merit in 2000.
It’s an elegant show in the summer and a vibrant display in the winter, just when you need it most.
You can find plants available in #3 and #5 containers at Nature Hills.
Prairie Fire
The young, bright golden foliage of ‘Prairie Fire’ changes to soft yellow during the summer before turning bright red and dropping from the shrub.
Then it’s time for the bright orange-red stems to take over the show. Consider the clusters of white flowers followed by white berries to be a major bonus for the birds and bees.
This one has a more upright shape than some tatarian dogwoods, reaching about five feet wide and seven feet tall.
Set your yard ablaze by purchasing ‘Prairie Fire’ at Nature Hills Nursery.
Sibirica
The coral-red branches of ‘Sibirica’ have made it a popular option across the globe. The leaves are more rounded than the species. The flowers are white, followed by bluish drupes.
The plants labeled as ‘Sibirica’ can vary quite a bit as this isn’t a stable cultivar, it’s a variety, which means it’s a natural variation that occurred in nature.
The size can vary from four feet tall and wide to seven feet tall and wide.
You can find ‘Sibirica’ available at Nature Hills Nursery.
Strawberry Daiquiri
The large, creamy and green variegated leaves on Strawberry Daiquiri® (‘Stdazam’) are so pretty that you’ll want them to stay around forever.
But then the purple, pink, and orange fall leaves droop and you’re treated to the bright red stems!
The large clusters of white flowers followed by bluish berries are just icing on the cake.
This cultivar reaches up to six feet tall and wide and is extremely adaptable, growing anywhere in Zones 2 to 8. You can find plants available at Nature Hills.
Pruning and Maintenance
Pruning is an important part of keeping tatarian dogwoods looking their best. That’s because it’s the young wood that has the brightest coloring, while the older wood tends to be dull.
If you want to encourage bright color, prune off the older wood. You can either take the wood out entirely or prune it back by two-thirds.
Remove suckers by cutting them down to the ground or even digging up a small section. Otherwise, you can allow the suckers to develop if you want the plant to spread.
You can grow tatarian dogwoods as shrubs or train them into a tree-like form. If you go the tree route, pick one strong, main central leader and cut all of the other stems to the ground.
Anytime something pops up, cut it down. As the main stem grows, remove any side shoots that appear below the canopy that you want to nurture.
Propagation
As with most other dogwood species, C. alba can be propagated via cuttings, seeds, or by transplanting suckers.
If you find a nice cultivar at a nursery, you can plant that in your garden, as well.
From Seed
Before sowing, you’ll need to stratify the seeds for 120 days. Do this by placing them in a bag of moistened sand in the refrigerator.
After stratification, fill four- to five-inch containers with a rich, water-retentive potting soil and stick a seed about half an inch deep in the center of each pot.
Keep the soil moist and after the seeds germinate, move the pots to an area with direct light for at least three hours a day and indirect light for several more hours.
When the seedlings are at least four inches tall with several sets of leaves, you can harden them off for a week and then move them outside, provided all risk of frost has passed.
From Cuttings
Take these in August, as cuttings tend to be more robust during the long days of summer and fall.
Before you head outside, fill a few four- to five-inch containers with potting medium or a half and half mix of peat moss and perlite.
Then, look for six-inch-long sections of semi-hardwood shoots with at least a few leaf nodes on them. Make a cut at a slight angle about six inches from the end of the shoot.
Strip off all but the top two leaves and stick the cutting into the potting medium about two to three inches deep.
Keep the medium moist and keep the pots in an area with bright, indirect light for at least six hours per day.
When new growth has started developing on the shoot, you can transplant it into the garden after hardening off.
From Suckers
Tatarian dogwoods produce suckers, and you can dig these up and move them somewhere else in the garden. This method works anytime the ground isn’t frozen.
To do this, you’ll dig down around the sucker you want to remove to find the roots.
When you find them, cut the main root that attaches the parent to the sucker. Gently dig this section up and remove it from the ground, taking care to include the roots.
Transplant into a new spot.
Transplanting
We’ve started our seeds, nurtured our cuttings, or brought our plant home from the nursery. Now, it’s time to make it a permanent part of your garden.
To transplant, pick a spot that receives at least three hours of direct sunlight. It’s a good idea to work in some well-rotted compost before planting.
This will loosen up the soil and add water retentive properties and nutrients that will give the young dogwood a head start.
Dig a hole twice as wide and about the same depth as the growing container.
For suckers, dig a hole large enough to accommodate the roots without bending or smashing them. Gently remove the plant from its growing container and lower it into the hole you made.
If the roots are circling the exterior of the soil, be sure to loosen them up a bit and spread them out before putting the plant in the hole.
Fill around the roots with soil and tamp it down gently. Water well and add more soil if it settles.
Managing Pests and Disease
We’ve covered all the fun stuff, but now we need to talk about some of the less exciting topics: pests and diseases.
Insects
Let’s start with pests, which can be anywhere from a minor bother to a serious problem. We’ll cover one of the most common, first:
Aphids
Aphids are a common problem on the vast majority of plants that we cultivate in our gardens.
The feeding causes yellow stippling on the leaves and stunted growth, as well as deformed flowers.
The pests also excrete a sticky substance called honeydew, which can attract sooty mold, reducing photosynthesis and stressing the tree.
Learn how to control aphids here.
Borers
Dogwood borers (Synanthedon scitula) are clearwing moths that look a little bit like wasps with black and yellow stripes on the body and big, pointed, clear wings lined in black and yellow.
But if you notice them flitting your garden, usually in the morning and evening, it’s bad news.
The adults lay eggs on the bark of dogwoods, and larvae hatch after about a week. The larvae then chew tunnels throughout the cambium and the heartwood.
Infested trees will develop swollen galls and you’ll see frass in the bark or around the base of the tree. The leaves might also turn red and drop off.
Since the adults look for damaged areas to lay eggs, be super careful not to damage your trees as you’re out mowing or trimming your lawn. Remove any dead or dying branches right away.
If your tree is infested, there isn’t a lot you can do. You can try to spray when the adults are present, but they can be hard to detect.
Your local extension might tell you when the adults are out breeding, so check with them in the spring.
Leaf Miners
Phytomyza agromyzina is a small fly that bops around in gardens seemingly doing nothing but minding its own business.
But when it lays eggs, the larvae that hatch tunnel through the leaves of the dogwood. This results in little maze-like tunnels throughout the leaves.
On small plants, you can pinch the leaves between your fingers and smoosh the larvae, but that’s a tall order on trees.
There are lots of other options for eliminating them which you can read about here.
Scale
Lecanium scale are quarter-inch long bugs with mottled brown shells, and they feed on many species in the garden.
In a healthy environment, they’re kept under control by ladybird beetles, green lacewings, and other beneficial insects. Stressed trees or imbalanced gardens might have an overgrowth of scale.
As they feed, they stunt plants, leave honeydew behind, and cause leaf discoloration. If you see them, just scrape them off with a butter knife.
You can learn more about scale here.
Disease
A tatarian dogwood is usually pretty robust unless it’s stressed by too much or too little water, standing water on the roots, or excessive heat.
They are best in Zones 7 or below, but they will survive in Zone 8. However, they can be prone to problems in the heat, especially if it’s humid.
In my region of Zone 8, we tend to have mild summers, so they do fine here. But in the south in Zone 8 where conditions become humid and extremely hot during the summer, it can be a problem.
On the bright side, tatarian dogwoods are resistant to Discula anthracnose, which can devastate some other Cornus species.
When stressed or grown in the wrong climate, you may encounter Armillaria root rot, Botrytis blight, fungal leaf spot, and powdery mildew.
Our guide to dogwood diseases covers these and more.
Four Seasons of Nonstop Interest
Tatarian dogwoods stay beautiful year round.
Whether they’re blooming in the spring, showing off their berries in the summer, delighting with bright fall foliage, or adding color to the winter landscape, they’re giving you nonstop interest.
Are you growing tatarian dogwood? Let us know in the comments section below!
And for more information about growing dogwoods in your landscape, check out these guides next:
