I dunno about yours, but my red twig dogwood has all brown twigs right now, and I have a feeling it's dead.

Are all your shrubs in the same spot? Perhaps 2 are in one microclimate and the other 3 are in another?

I have two in the ground, and two in a pot. The two in the pot actaully did better this year, but I think that's because I paid more attention to them during our drought this summer. The ones in the ground lost their leaves earlier, and are a beautiful red now, while the ones in the pot still have some leaves.

If yours are all in the same spot, perhaps one or two get more/less sun or wind, or maybe they are sheltered more from rain? Or maybe, as you said, you have two different varieties. Perhaps in a bit more time the green twigs will turn and you'll have the same beautiful red across the board.

:)
Dee

I have a Variegated Red Twig Dogwood, most likely CORNUS alba 'Ivory Halo'. New stems grow green and turn red in the winter. I cut mine back to the same spot about a foot above the ground sometime around early March.

That's what I have also - Ivory Halo. I cut mine back in early spring. The new growth is green, and turns to red about this time of year (late fall.)

:)
Dee

Very interesting discussion! They are all in the same spot, tho the ones that still have leaves and have green stems have a slightly more exposed (eastern) position. I'll have to get a copy of Dirr'...I guess it's time...and check out the differences between the two cultivars.
I've generally cut them all back by about 1/3 -- but I am tempted to cut them all down to about 12" next Spring. How tall do they grow over the season if cut back that far?
Thanks for all thd GOOD info!
C

Mayalena, regarding the pruning back, this won't be of much help, but I thought I'd pass along my experience. I bought my Ivory Halos last fall, knowing full well that I would have to cut them back in spring. This is definitely my weak point. I'm actually scared of pruning! There, I've admitted it to the world, lol! I was brave, though, and pruned the two potted shrubs hard, back so the shrubs were about 12 inches high. Then I read something that said if they are under three years old, to prune them more lightly to give them a chance to grow. Not knowing how old my shrubs were, but figuring they hadn't lived in their nursery pots for three years yet, I was lighter with the two in-ground shrubs, just pruning back about 6-10 inches, so the shrubs were still about 2 feet high.

Funny, while the potted plants did better overall, all four shrubs are still about the same height now - about 2 1/2 feet high. The tag and my research says they should reach 5 to 8 feet, so I was expecting more growth, but it was a dry year, and they may be young yet, so we'll see next year. But I guess I did learn that the harder-pruned shrubs put out more growth than the lightly pruned ones, even if they ended up the same size.

These plants actually make me happy to have snow, lol! They look so beautiful against it, even the potted ones.

:)
Dee

dee, looks like i owe you an apology, as your experience is your experience.plse forgive. just as an aside, if you love those red stems (as I do as well) you might really enjoy growing cornus ___ midwinter flame. just breathtaking red-to-orange/coral-to-yellow stems(going from base to tips)forestfarm sells. also acer negundo kelly's gold for startling light grey/silver winter branches and acer neg. winterlightning for yellow winter branches.maybe olivers or broken arrow for all these?
best, mindy

Goodness, Mindy, no apology necessary at all! :) I certainly didn't mean to imply that you owed me one - so *I'm* sorry, lol!

Funny you should mention the Midwinter Flame. If I remember correctly, this is the variety I saw just after I finally decided on and purchased my Ivory Halos. It is indeed beautiful. Isn't that always the way - you research and ask around and make a decision, and *then* you see something else you like even more! Not that I don't like my Ivory Halos, because I do. They are lovely, but those Midwinter Flames are gorgeous.

Thanks for the tips on the others. I will most likely cut down a few oaks on my property line this winter to give my veggie garden more sun, and I was thinking of planting some lower-growing trees or shrubs in their place for privacy. Since I know nothing about trees and not a whole lot more about shrubs, I'll add your suggestions to my list of things to research.

Thanks!
:)
Dee

I believe that this shrubby dogwood variety naturally loses its foliage early. The nursery where I've been working all season has lots of them, and they all started dropping leaves before any other decidious bush or tree. And my own at home dropped their leaves earlier too.

In my garden 'Ivory Halo' keep its leaves at least 3 weeks longer than his full-sized brother that is already leafless for a couple of weeks.
Also, IH indeed start green and turns red at about this time. However, those red stems will not revert into green in a spring and if not cut will be brown from the spring till the rest of the season, when only NEW season growth will become red again.
Conclusion: in order to see a lot of red branches in a following winter you should cut all brown branches in a spring as low as reasonably possible. I think 10-12" would be about right.

IH at the nursery I work at keeps it's leaves longer than the others too, particularly the red twig types. That's what I was referring to in my post (red twig dogwoods...they lose their leaves before other types including IH).

This month (August) my red twig dogwood leaves have all turned yellow. In previous years, later in the fall the leave all turned the deep red the bush is noted for. But I never noticed that they turned yellow beforehand. Maybe I just wasn't looking. Is this yellow be normal, or a disease? The leaves are otherwise fine and all on the bush. Is the yellow a normal phase before the red?

Hi Shartlansberg,

Welcome.....I have a thought and a question. You don't say where you are (when you have a moment add that info to your user/screen name as others above have)

I think it is drought. Very dry here in MA and I see signs all over of plant stress. All my small greentwig dogwoods are yellow and its only mid August. If you water it won't make any diference to the leaves. They will probably not push out new ones at this date. However, if you plants are at the point of death because of thirst do water them from now going into winter so their root system can be robust enough.

Second, You may not have noticed but this is a 10 year old "thread". That is really old; pre-cambian times in computer social websites time.

May I ask how you found this thread.? Did you just go to Houzz/ or Gardenweb or Google and do a search about something like "what's up with my rtdogwood?" And this link was one of your choices? then, I assume, you tagged your question onto the thread.

You didn't do anything wrong. However, it is better to post your own new question. Some people won't add a comment to a "stale" dated post. Your question may be slightly different and would get a different answer. And it wll much easier for you to track answers to a question under your own name and date rather than someone else's.

I'm sure you'll get good answers here because NE gardeners are a diverse and knowledgable group who grow all kinds of plants: annuals, perennials, groundcovers, trees, shrubs etc. . But there's also a 'shrubs' forum, a 'trees forum'.....etc.where 'experts' hang out.

Thanks for your help....and thanks for putting in your zone and geographical location next to your name.

Marie

Thanks for the response and hints. I am in western Oregon--rain country with arid summers and a drought for the last few seasons. I did add to an old thread, not realizing it was old. Your info on the species and the post was helpful.

I hope you enjoy Gardenweb. Many people here looking to help.

If I had known shrub dogwoods were so unhappy with drought I would not

have planted 10 of them.