Muskingum® Dogwood

Exceptional multi-season display, the compact cultivar of the well-known Gray Twig Dogwood! Leverage the gorgeous ornamental attributes of Muskingum® Dogwood (Cornus racemosa 'Muszam') to improve your property. This is a shorter, spreading cultivar of a native shrub and you'll love the beautiful qualities of this selection all year round!

Muskingum® is a more compact form that remains shorter and beautifully spreading. As the springtime leaves unfurl, they also display a bronzy or reddish hue aging to a grayish green! It doesn't take long for the delicate flower clusters to cover the branch tips. You'll lose track of how many butterfly species come to visit these lilac-scented creamy flowers!

Muskingum® Dogwood truly is a resource plant for pollinators and songbirds. It's also a rugged shrub that controls erosion and covers the ground to suppress weeds. It looks refreshing and cool all summer with gray-green foliage. This widely adaptable choice thrives across most of the United States and puts up with some tough environmental challenges, too.

Fall is an especially pretty season of interest, as the leaves burnish into a glamorous dark red. The spring blooms have developed into a generous display of showy white berries that are relished by birds. Very cold-hardy throughout USDA growing zones 4 to 7, these keep their parent resilience and adaptability, growing just 2-3 feet in height and 4-5 feet in width for a wonderfully spreading form.

Planting and Application:

Why struggle with trouble spots or boring bare areas? Muskingum® Dogwood fills those full sun spots with dramatic multi-season color! Create a "moment" with a cozy bench placed across from this dazzler. Then, just sit and watch the pollinators cavort over the spring blooms! The colorful berries and stems provide lovely winter interest as well!

This versatile choice makes a bold, low-growing statement to accent a curve in your garden path. Use one as a specimen in a small space garden. If you have the room, why not line the outer edge of a shrub border with the many charms of Muskingum® Dogwood? It grows full and lush all the way to the ground and is blissfully easy to grow and maintain.

Muskingum® Dogwood makes a great underplanting for island beds in the front lawn. Add your favorite Flowering Dogwood, Magnolia, or Redbud Tree from our online catalog and you'll stop traffic! Muskingum® Dogwood can also partner with groundcover Juniper, Sumac, and Groundcover Roses. They'll add structure and season-long color as they pump up the ecological value of your space!

Space them 30 inches apart on center for a solid mass planting. You'll measure from the center of one to the center of the next. Mass Muskingum® Dogwood along an embankment or slope to stop soil erosion. Keep your planting tidy with weeding and judicious pruning for a look you'll be proud of for many years! Appreciating the moist soil of Rain Gardens and the base of where gutters drain, loving the extra moisture these areas provide!

• Pointed, Gray-Green Foliage Looks Cool & Fresh All Season
• New Leaves Emerge Red in Spring
• Lilac Scented Creamy-White Flower Clusters
• Nectar Attracts Butterflies & Honey Bees
• Terrific White Berries Support Birds
• Incredible Brick-Red Fall Color
• Improved Cultivar of Native Gray Dogwood Shrub
• Exquisite Type of Groundcover Shrub - Stays Tightly Compact

#ProPlantTips for Care:

These low-growing Dogwoods are best grown in organically rich, medium to wet, well-drained soils in full sun. This shrub prefers consistently moist, well-drained soils. Once they are established in your yard, they will be very adaptable to varying soil conditions, and they can tolerate periodically wet and dry soils within moderation. Supply a moderate amount of water on a consistent schedule, if you don't receive adequate rainfall. For the first season in the landscape, keep a close eye on this hydration schedule to enable your new shrub to get established in the soil. Apply a three-inch layer of mulch over the root system to further cut down on surface evaporation, and keep the foliage clean from mud splashing during rain.

Prune Dogwood hard in late winter to early spring to keep your plants healthy, vigorous, and the most colorful. Please note that the new growth is the most brilliantly colored. This simple yearly pruning to thin out some branches are perfect for winter décor. Try growing your Dogwood naturally without any shearing for an informal and easy-to-care-for display! You'll feed butterflies, beneficial pollinators, and birds.

To not sacrifice these perks, it's best to perform a renewal pruning, by cutting out a few of the oldest, thickest stems to the ground. Your plant should look healthy and last for decades in your landscape. Trim the roots and promptly remove root suckers if the colonial spread is not wanted. It is a rapid-growing, multi-stemmed, suckering, deciduous shrub that grows to a maximum size of 8 feet tall on erect, usually unbranched stems.

• Fast Growing In Full Sun
• Best in Well-Drained Soil
• Thrives in Average to Moist Soil
• Prune Late Winter/Eary Spring
• Easy to Grow and Maintain
• Deer Don't Prefer the Taste

Hard-working Muskingum® Dogwood is a showy and generally carefree ornamental shrub. Increase the value of your property with these special shrubs! Order Muskingum® Dogwood from our native shrub experts today! It's a beautiful addition to add interest to the lower layers of your garden design! Hurry and order yours today at Nature Hills!

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast does Muskingum® Dogwood grow?

The Muskingum® Dogwood shrub is a medium-growth rate and can add about a foot or so of new growth each growing season.

How big does Muskingum® Dogwood get?

The Muskingum® Dogwood can reach 4 - 5 feet in height and width in optimal conditions.

Is Muskingum® Dogwood fragrant?

Muskingum®Dogwood has very fragrant lilac-scented blossoms!

Will Muskingum® Dogwood grow in full sun?

The Muskingum® Dogwood grows in full sun and has the most blooms and the best stem color.

Are Dogwood shrubs good for wildlife?

The Dogwood Shrub is a fantastic wildlife shrub and it's a pollinator-friendly native that feeds birds with its fruit and is even a caterpillar host plant.

What Shipping Options Do You Offer?

NatureHills.com works closely with our growers and nursery professionals to ensure we ship when it is most appropriate for your area. Our goal is to deliver the hardiest plants by avoiding extreme high and low temperatures. Check out our shipping schedule for more information and to learn our wills and won'ts when it comes to shipping plants. Find your Dogwood Shrubs for sale here at NatureHills.com!