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Blue Ray™ Chinese Dogwood flowers

Blue Ray™ Chinese Dogwood flowers

(Photo courtesy of NetPS Plant Finder)

Other Names:  Kousa Dogwood

Brand:  Garden Debut

Description:

A vigorous, disease and pest resistant variety with blue tinted green leaves that turn a rich maroon in fall; pure white bracts in spring last for several weeks; adorned with raspberry-like fruit in fall; tolerant of most soils except very wet or dry

Ornamental Features

Blue Ray™ Chinese Dogwood features showy bracted white flowers with chartreuse eyes held atop the branches from late spring to mid summer. It has attractive bluish-green foliage with hints of blue. The pointy leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding burgundy in the fall. It features an abundance of magnificent crimson berries from early to mid fall. The peeling gray bark adds an interesting dimension to the landscape.

Landscape Attributes

Blue Ray™ Chinese Dogwood is a multi-stemmed deciduous tree with a stunning habit of growth which features almost oriental horizontally-tiered branches. 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.

Blue Ray™ Chinese Dogwood is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Shade

Planting & Growing

Blue Ray™ 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 1 foot 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 40 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. This plant should be periodically fertilized throughout the active growing season with a specially-formulated acidic fertilizer. 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.