Pagoda dogwood
Cornus alternifolia L.f.
Also called pagoda dogwood, alternate-leaf dogwood.
Small understory tree with distinctive horizontal, tiered branches, flat clusters of creamy flowers in late spring and blue-black fruit on red stalks that birds take in midsummer. Best in cool, moist, partly shaded sites.
Size over time
Typical landscape size 4.5–7.5 m (15–25 ft) tall and 6–9 m (20–30 ft) wide; medium growth, about 25 years to maturity. Intermediate sizes use the planner’s growth curve (k = 0.25) from the #15 install size.
Bloom
Creamy white flowers, May–Jun (northern-hemisphere months; timing shifts with region and season).
| Plant | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pagoda dogwood : May–Jun |
Design notes
- Heat and drought stress invite golden canker, which kills branches; avoid hot, exposed sites and keep the root zone mulched.
- In the Southeast use only at mountain elevations.
Regions
Native range: Eastern North America, south in the Appalachians to Georgia and Alabama.
Native to these OpenLandscape3D pilot regions:
Native status describes where the species occurs naturally. It is not a promise that it suits a particular garden; site conditions decide that.
In the guides
Pagoda dogwood comes up in this guide:
Related plants
Try Pagoda dogwood in a plan
Opens your own copy of a finished sample garden in the planner with Pagoda dogwood ready to place; the planner checks it against that garden’s zone, light and moisture.
Plan with Pagoda dogwood
Place it in a design, check it against your zone, light and moisture, and see it at year three and year ten.