Best grown in organically rich, consistently moist, fertile, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Tolerant of a wide range of soils. Established shrubs tolerate some dry soils as well as occasional standing water. Trim roots with a spade and promptly remove root suckers if colonial spread is undesired. Best stem color occurs on young stems. Although pruning is not required, many gardeners choose to remove 20-25% of the oldest stems in early spring of each year to stimulate growth of new stems which will display the best color. As an alternative to annual pruning, some gardeners prune all stems close to the ground (coppice to 8") in early spring every 2-3 years to renew. Any loss of flowers through spring pruning is not terribly significant since the small flowers of this dogwood are small and rather ordinary. Plants become stressed and more vulnerable to diseases such as canker in hot summer climates south of USDA Zone 7.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Cornus alba, commonly called tatarian dogwood, is a rapid-growing, multi-stemmed, suckering, deciduous shrub that is native to eastern and central Asia in areas in part inhabited by Tatars or Tartars. It typically matures to 8-10' tall. Creamy white flowers in flat-topped clusters (cymes to 2 1/2" across) bloom in late spring, sometimes with sparse, intermittent, additional flowering continuing into early summer. Flowers give way to white berries (drupes tinged with blue-green) which ripen in mid-summer. Fruits are attractive to birds. Ovate to elliptic leaves (to 4 1/2" long) are bright yellow in full sun but greenish yellow in part shade.

Tatarian dogwood is similar in appearance to redtwig dogwood (C. sericea/stolonifera), but generally does not spread as aggressively.