Empress of China Dogwood Tree

The Empress of China Dogwood is a beautiful small tree, growing between 15 and 20 feet tall, with glossy evergreen foliage that turns purple in fall, and stays that way all winter long. The spring and summer leaves are glossy and green, and in early summer, when other flowering dogwoods are finishing, this one bursts into bloom. At that time it covered in pure-white blossoms, with distinctively pointed bracts. In late summer and into fall it carries a heavy crop of large, bright red berries. Plant it as a beautiful lawn specimen, or in semi-natural settings in woodland gardens and the edges of areas with deciduous trees.

• Beautiful small tree smothered in white flowers in early summer
• Heavy crop of bright-red berries in late summer and fall
• Purple leaves from fall to spring
• Evergreen, for interest all winter long
• Resistant to diseases that are killing other flowering dogwoods

The Empress of China is fast-growing, and it is resistant to anthracnose, a disease killing many native dogwoods in the south. It makes a wonderful and healthy replacement for them, and it is also resistant to the disfiguring powdery mildew, which turns the leaves of many dogwoods white when the summer becomes hot and humid. It can be pruned up into a small tree, or left to grow naturally, with branches sweeping almost to the ground.