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CORNUS kousa
'Gold Cup'
Not to be confused with our old favourite 'Gold Star', this newer form is more vigorous and supposedly more upright in habit. The foliage is similar being dark green with a prominent yellow central splash. White bracts too. Photo (left) shows the start of autumn colour. |
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CORNUS kousa
'Gold Star' This Japanese selection is truly beautiful having a central yellow star in a dark green leaf. Particularly pretty red autumn colour also highlighted by the variegation. The red fruit contrasts superbly with the bright foliage. Reputedly it tolerates full sun, but lunchtime shade must surely be advantageous. |
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CORNUS kousa 'Greensleeves' A fast growing tree which develops a symmetrical branch structure and "vase-shaped" semi-upright habit. Extremely large bracts are held above the glossy foliage for maximum effect; these maintain a surprising amount of the initial green colouring except when grown in heavy shade. This is indeed one of the very best cultivars for floral effect. See it in our Quarry and Winter Gardens. |
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CORNUS kousa
var. chinensis 'Greta's Gold' This form arose on our nursery as a chance sport. We then named it after Greta our daughter, who at the time was just a baby! In the time since, we have improved the variegation and reliability by careful propagation. This plant is still special to us, as it was our first "new" plant. The young leaves have a bronzey tint, then open to a broad gold margin or splash. The autumn colour is fantastic with the variegation determining the shades of pink and red. |
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CORNUS kousa
'Highland' The bracts of this heavy bloomer are ivory white and the light green foliage is prettily ruffled. Broad habit. |
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| CORNUS
kousa 'John Slocock' This is a fabulous selection and an absolute favourite of ours. The bracts mature a week or two earlier than our other kousas, which extends the season rather nicely. It bracts so heavily that it is an amazing sight; the bracts being creamy-white, with the potential to mature with pink splashes dependant on environmental conditions. The habit is distinctive too. It is naturally more compact than many, though bushy and natural-looking rather than formal or upright. Autumn leaf colours can be attractive and fruit freely produced, completing a brilliant all round package. See it above our Quarry Garden. |
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CORNUS
kousa 'Kreuzdame' An excellent selection, undocumented in "Dogwoods", with large bracts reliably produced. Its broad, layered habit and deep red autumn colours make it very similar to 'Claudia' and 'Wislye Queen'. |
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CORNUS kousa
'Little Beauty' Originally selected from wild collected Korean seed, this form is supposedly dwarfer in all its parts once mature. Young plants growing strongly may have normal sized leaves. I'm yet to be convinced by this one so it is not currently in production. So far it has flowered very sparsely and in my eyes is of extremely limited ornamental merit. If a more compact selection is required, then in my opinion, there are a number of better options. Feel free to drop me through an email to discuss. |
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| CORNUS kousa
'Lustgarten Weeping' A strong weeping form that can be trained up to give a true weeping tree or grown naturally to form a creeping, arching mound. The bracts are held nicely above the foliage. Potentially spectacular trained along a low wall or as edging in the same way as "step-over" fruit trees. |
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CORNUS kousa
'Madame Butterfly' The dainty white pointed bracts are said to resemble butterflies sitting on the branches as they turn up from their mid point. |
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CORNUS kousa
var. chinensis 'Milky Way ' Another vigorous upright form, but this one has a distinct white mottling to the leaf. Note that the bract in the adjacent picture is not fully mature, and will therefore continue to expand until it is almost round. |
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| CORNUS kousa
var. chinensis 'Milky Way Select' Although designated a cultivar, the background to 'Milky Way' is quite complex...suffice it to say that at one point in its history, it was more of a strain than a cultivar. Thus different clones with this name exist. We now have a selected form from the US which has typical foliage (as opposed to the mottling of our original clone above) and good bracts. For once I think it is not a case of "right" and "wrong", so much as "different". |
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CORNUS kousa 'Miss Petty' The slightly cupped leaves are the darkest green, some say almost black-green, contrasting well with white bracts which pinken with age. |
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| CORNUS
kousa 'Moonbeam' A beautiful selection producing masses of large creamy white bracts which have been described as glowing in the evening sun. This one has a distinctive habit, being neither layered nor upright. Instead it forms a rounded head. The foliage is slightly different too, being flushed with copper tones. |
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