Cornus stems

i almost got this today but didnt as i havent even started the bottom of garden yet, love it though ;o))

They are great in the winter - they give some colour to any dull areas!

yes i like the bright colours, i saw vivid red and think other was orange, very nice barbara :o))

Nice to see. I have a couple but can't remember the name. One was a cutting from the other. Trouble is I don't know where to plant the cutting which is about 14 inches high.

you could plant it in my garden if you like toto lol ;o))

I found a piece that had rooted itself from this shrub last spring, and didn't know where to plant it, so I stuck in the soil at the back of the wide border - and to my astonishment, it's doing really well!

They tend to layer themselves, which is considerate of them. I have the golden ones next to the red and the contrast is quite nice. Do you cut them down in Spring Spritz.

Yes. I thought I'd massacred this one! But look how much it's grown since then. :-))

We have a lovely green stemmed one Spritz.They are virtually bomb proof arent they !

Definitely! Good shrubs, all of them.

I may get one of these.

You won't regret it, Carol. Good all through the year except immediately after they've been pruned hard! lol.

We have this one, as you say a good all rounder, would have more but dont really have the room now.
Dawn we did that in our old garden (putting several different colours together) looks most effective.

I had this one as a tender young plant and went by with the mower, Somehow I bumped into it..but thought it was ok...well I apparently bumped it harder than I realized as it died and I found on investigation that I had actually managed to cut it somehow and it died at the roots...I do love the way they look in the winter and of course had my dreams..I will have to try again when I am ready to settle again somewhere.

Is this one Elegantissima, Spritz?

Yes - so it says to the right of the photo! LOL.

Haha, Bamboo - you didn't look hard enough! (only teasing...)

I scoured the page when I read that first bit;-) I love the foliage on this one as much as the stems, specially when you get the odd all white leaved branch.

I haven't had that - but I do love this shrub. When we first got here, it hadn't been pruned at all - and the stems (plus flowers!) draped beautifully over the stream wall and amost touched the water! Our tree surgeon had to ID it for me - and he cut it hard back that first spring. I had to trust him! I do it now, of course. I lose the flowers - but gain the beauty of the red stems. :-)))

If you want both, cut half the stems down to the ground in the spring, interspersed through the shrub, and just shorten the rest.

I thought of doing that very thing, Bamboo - does the shrub not look a bit sparse?

No idea, never done it on one this size, only on very large ones, and I don't take half the stems down either, I tend to take a quarter to the ground, a quarter about a foot up, a quarter 2 feet up and the rest down to whatever height I think (usually about 3/4 feet from the ground) so you just get graduated growth, really.

Bamboo that sounds like a good idea might do that to ours.

Bit fiddly to do with a large specimen, but it looks fine when it grows.

very pretty spritz.