Starlight Chinese Dogwood

Starlight Chinese Dogwood (Cornus kousa 'Starlight')
Height: 30 feet Spread: 25 feet Sunlight: Full sun to partial shade Hardiness Zone: 5b Other Names: Kousa Dogwood
 
Description: The Starlight Chinese Dogwood is a vigorous and more upright, broadly spreading, densely branched dogwood. It showcases beautiful large white bracts that last for several weeks and is covered in raspberry-like fruit in the fall. This tree boasts excellent disease resistance, making it a resilient and attractive addition to any landscape.
 
Ornamental Features:
Flowers: Showy clusters of white flowers with white bracts held atop the branches in late spring.
Fruits: An abundance of magnificent crimson berries from early to mid-fall.
Foliage: Green deciduous foliage. The pointy leaves turn an outstanding brick red in the fall.
Bark: Peeling gray bark adds an interesting dimension to the landscape.
 
Landscape Attributes:
Multi-stemmed deciduous tree with a stunning habit of growth, featuring almost oriental horizontally-tiered branches.
Average texture that blends into the landscape but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
Relatively low-maintenance tree; should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers.
Good choice for attracting birds to your yard.
No significant negative characteristics.
 
Recommended Uses:
Accent
Shade
 
Planting & Growing:
Grows to about 30 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 25 feet.
Low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, making it suitable for planting under power lines.
Grows at a medium rate and can live for 40 years or more under ideal conditions.
Thrives in full sun to partial shade.
Prefers average to evenly moist conditions but will not tolerate standing water. May require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat.
Very fussy about soil conditions; must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success. Subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils.
Somewhat tolerant of urban pollution; 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.