General Description

Bloom Description: Four large white bracts (modified leaves associated with flowers) emerge around the true flowers before the plant leafs out, in May.

Growth Habit & Shape: This small tree grows to have a round or oval crown, and typically begins flowering when still quite small, unlike many other dogwood cultivars.

Soil Preferences: Benthamidia florida grows in rich, acidic, well-drained soils that are neither dry nor particularly moist. It does fine in average garden soil, and will tolerate clay soils as well.

Root Description: Roots are fibrous, relatively shallow, and spread laterally.

Garden Uses: Flowering dogwood is a lovely specimen tree in the garden. Its compact growing head and nice flower display make it a choice garden plant, and it may be used in front yards or as a street tree in areas with low air pollution.

Best Management & Maintenance: Plant in well-drained, acidic soils that are rich with organic matter (or well-mulched) and space generously away from other trees to ensure consistent air circulation to avoid powdery-mildew and other fungal issues.

Common Problems: This cultivar is not resistant to Anthracnose, the fungal plant pathogen that has decimated most of the wild-type populations of Benthamidia florida in New England. If Anthracnose has been a problem in your local area, consider a different tree. With insufficient air circulation, other issues include powdery mildew, leaf spot and twig blight (all of which are less likely when this tree is planted in an appropriate spot). Young trees may suffer twig loss due to late frosts, but usually recover without issue.

Benefits

Wildlife Benefits: The berries provide food for birds, and this genus, which is often grouped with the genus Cornus, supports over 100 species of butterflies and moths throughout their life cycles. It is unclear whether this cultivar attracts insects in the same way that the species does, as these questions have not been adequately studied.

Use in place of: Rosa multiflora, Lonicera japonica

References

• GoBotany
• Caetano-anollés, G. & Schlarbaum, S.E. & Trigiano, Robert. (1999). DNA amplification fingerprinting and marker screening for pseudo-testcross mapping of flowering dogwood ( Cornus florida L.). Euphytica. 106. 209-222. 10.1023/A:1003568604537.
• National Wildlife Federation Native Plants Finder Database (database of plants and lepidopteran associates)
• University of Tennessee Extension Guide to Dogwood Production (by Mark Halcomb)
• Plants for a Future Database

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