Hi Scottish, I've not heard that suggestion before but Cornus alba, C. sericea and C. sanguinea all prefer damp conditions, which one have you bought?

I remember the article but cant for the life of me remember who it was who did it.

I've not tried it but the theory was the higher up the mound, the better the drainage for the roots. I dont know what the outcomes were, it does make sense though.

There was no label and reduced, but the Nursery Owner said it was Sibirica which I think is Alba.
I saw it on Beechgrove a few years ago - they were trialing hedges and one of the plants they were trialing failed because they were getting waterlogged. They replanted using a method of not planting at soil level but building a mound of soil around the root.

I have not heard of private gardeners having to use this system but it is a technique used in commercial forestry in wet conditions. In the forest they 'plough' ridges to plant on. It is just to get the young trees started because, once into healthy growth, the trees will reduce the water level in the soil. I don't know if a solitary tree in a garden would do this.

Yes Scottish it is C. alba sibirica - needs a good 2 metres of space all round and the red winter colour is best when it gets full sun.

We have heavy soil round here and the local leisure and business parks use that method - ridge and furrow as Bulbaholic has said. The trees planted on the furrow, so on top of the mound. Some are 20ft high now so it works. It helps keep part of the root system above winter flooding and aims the rain in summer down to make the roots deep.

http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/ppmound.html

http://caytesgarden.wordpress.com/ - skip down to half way.

It was a way to plant specimen trees in large estates in Georgian and Victorian times. The trees from say China or America were small, so placing them higher up allowed them to be seen better. Pretty sure Balloch country Park at Loch Lomond has some planted that way, certainly seen them on Gardeners World and country File!

Alan Titchmarsh suggested this method in his "Love your garden" show. I have used this method as my garden is very heavy clay. It does work very well. I also use it to underplant around my cherry trees.

Happy Birthday Angie :)

Thanks everyone for your comments - I will look into what you have all said before I plant it. I want to get it right as I don't want to have to keep replacing the shrubs (if it does flood again, that it!!)
Thanks for the Birthday Wish Kath x