Strawberry dogwood, Cornus kousa x Cornus capitata ‘Norman Hadden’, #276
Our strawberry dogwood, Cornus kousa, ‘Norman Hadden’, 276, has flowered for the first time. It was planted only 2 years ago.
The flowers are actually quite small and green, but are surrounded by four large petal-like bracts. On our specimen, the terminal flowers on each branch have larger, whiter bracts than the rest. The flowers are standing up from the branches on individual peduncles.
In a blog by Paddy Tobin “An Irish Gardener” titled “Every Dog Has Its Day” I read more about Norman Hadden, the man. It seems he had a garden in West Porlock, Somerset called “Underway”. Among self-seeded Cornus was a natural cross between Cornus capitata and Cornus kousa. It was around 1958 that Hadden selected a few of the best specimens and this variety was given his name to remember him by. It is thought that “dogwood” originated from “dags” because the hard wood was used to make daggers, spikes and skewers.
Cornus kousa, strawberry dogwood, was introduced to the UK in 1875 being native to Japan, Korea and central China. Well admired, but not common. It can grow to 5m and is most suitable for a position with full sun. The fruits are edible. The beautiful tree has masses of large, creamy-white bracts in mid-summer. The flower bracts of turn pink just before they fall and, in hot years, pendulous, strawberry-like red fruit appear later in summer. Unlike other Cornus species this is semi-evergreen and in very mild weather the leaves can stay on over winter. In colder times, the leaves can show bronze/red tints before falling.
1st June 2020