Gray Dogwood
Cornus racemosa
Tough multi-stemmed thicket-forming shrub for hedges and naturalizing. White berries on red pedicels are gone by mid-fall — birds clean them off. Tolerates almost any soil; spreads by root suckers.
- Family
- Cornaceae
- Type
- shrub
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 10–15 ft
- Spacing
- 10–15 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- May, June, July
- Bloom colors
- white, green
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, butterflies, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~118 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- specimen, hedge or screen, rain garden, erosion control
- Native states
- CT, DC, DE, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV
Related native plants
More Cornus species
- Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
- Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
- Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)
- Roughleaf Dogwood (Cornus drummondii)
- Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)
- Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii)