Samaritan Chinese Dogwood
Cornus kousa 'Samaritan'
Height: 20 feet
Spread: 20 feet
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 5a
Other Names: Kousa Dogwood
Description:
A truly beautiful specimen tree, with showy green and white variegated foliage, one of the best; red fruit in fall and an upward habit of growth; very particular as to siting, requires rich, well-drained acidic soil and adequate precipitation
Ornamental Features
Samaritan Chinese Dogwood features showy clusters of white flowers with white bracts held atop the branches in late spring. It has attractive white-variegated green foliage. The pointy leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding pink in the fall. It features an abundance of magnificent red berries from early to mid fall. The peeling gray bark adds an interesting dimension to the landscape.
Landscape Attributes
Samaritan Chinese Dogwood is a multi-stemmed deciduous tree with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Samaritan Chinese Dogwood is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Accent
- General Garden Use
Planting & Growing
Samaritan Chinese Dogwood will grow to be about 20 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 20 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.
This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.
