# Common dogwood: how to recognise, plant and care for it

> Common dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) is a native shrub of 1.5 to 3 metres with red twigs in winter. Where it fits, what it costs and how to look after it.

Canonical: https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/common-dogwood
Last updated: 2026-09-28

*Cornus sanguinea*

![One common dogwood as a free-standing shrub on a lawn in front of a wooden fence, in early June, with dark red twigs and flat white flower clusters](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/rode-kornoelje-caa583f5.webp)

Published: 2026-09-28

Common dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) is a native shrub, 1.5 to 3 metres tall. In
May and June it bears flat clusters of small white flowers. Blue-black berries
hang on the shrub in September, and in autumn the leaves turn deep red. The
shrub grows in full sun or partial shade.

## Common dogwood at a glance

| Feature | Common dogwood |
| --- | --- |
| Height | 1.5 to 3 m |
| Spread | 1.5 to 2.5 m |
| Full grown after | 5 to 10 years |
| Sun | Full sun to partial shade |
| Soil | Moist and nutrient-rich, preferably with lime |
| Water | Average: water in long dry spells |
| Maintenance | Low: keep the suckers in check |
| Flowers | May and June, dull white |
| For bees | Little: some nectar and pollen, June |
| Hay fever | Not or weakly allergenic |
| Leaves | Drop in autumn |
| Hardy | Yes |
| Native | Yes |
| Poisonous | Berries bitter, can cause vomiting |
| Pricks or stings | No |
| Price, young | About €1.50 to €2.10 each, 60-100 cm, bare-root, from 10 plants |
| Price, grown | About €43.06 to €106.71 each, 150-200 cm, with a root ball |

- **Leaf**: April to October
- **Flower**: May to June
- **Fruit**: September to October

![A young common dogwood shoot with pairs of oval, pointed leaves with smooth edges and curving veins on a red stem](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/rode-kornoelje-leaf-6f6d56c7.webp)
*Leaf*

![A flat cluster of small dull-white flowers with four petals above two opposite common dogwood leaves](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/rode-kornoelje-bloom-4c97b5cc.webp)
*Flower*

![A loose cluster of round blue-black common dogwood berries on red stalks among green leaves, in September](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/rode-kornoelje-fruit-fce2847e.webp)
*Fruit*

## How do I recognise common dogwood?

Start with the leaves. They grow in pairs, exactly opposite each other. Each
leaf is oval with a pointed tip and 5 to 8 centimetres long. The edge is
smooth, without teeth. Three to five pairs of veins curve towards the tip and
never reach the edge.

The flowers are dull white and 0.8 to 1 centimetre across. Together they form a
flat cluster on short side shoots. Their four petals drop soon after opening.

The berries are round and 6 to 8 millimetres across, with a hard stone inside.
On this shrub the young twigs are red all year round.

> **Did you know?**
>
> Carefully tear a leaf in two across its width. Thin, stretchy threads stay
> hanging between the halves. These are the leaf's wood vessels, coiled in a
> spiral, and you rarely see those in nature.

Note the white dogwood (Cornus alba) sold in garden centres. That shrub has red
stems in winter as well. You tell the two apart by the berries, which are white
on white dogwood.

## Where does common dogwood grow best?

Common dogwood grows in full sun or partial shade. Full sun is more than six
hours of direct sun a day around midsummer, partial shade three to six hours.
The shrub does best in moist, nutrient-rich soil. In the wild you often find
it on soil that contains lime, such as marl, loam and light clay.

Common dogwood fits less well in these spots:

- **Beside a lawn you keep neat.** The roots send out suckers that come up in
  the grass, so one shrub soon turns into a dense thicket.
- **A narrow strip along a path.** A full-grown shrub is wider than such a
  strip and hangs over the paving.

In winter the shrub is bare. That is when the red stems stand out.

![One border in front of a wooden fence with common dogwoods: on the left in May, in leaf with white flower clusters; on the right the same border in January with bare red stems, and a box ball at each end](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/rode-kornoelje-1-9e42ef17.webp)
*The same border in May and in January. This is a generated image, not a photo.*

Planted beside the terrace, the shrub takes up far more room after a few years
than the small plant from the nursery. On a layout plan of your plot with the
houses around it, you can see whether that room is there. The app draws the
plant on that plan at the width of a full-grown shrub, not at pot size.

## Planting and caring for common dogwood

Autumn is the best time to plant common dogwood. Over winter the roots settle
in, so the plant needs less water in its first summer. Nurseries deliver
bare-root stock, with no soil on the roots, between November and late March.
Potted plants can be planted all year.

Plant this shrub 1.5 to 2.5 metres from the next one, because a full-grown
plant becomes that wide. On planting day that looks like an empty patch, but
the gap fills by itself. Water a young plant when the summer stays dry for a
long time. An established shrub needs water only in long dry spells.

| When | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| All year | Dig out suckers that come up in the grass or the path |
| End of winter, if you want | Cut the shrub back low for lots of young red stems, not in the first two years |

Cutting back low costs you that year's flowers, and with them the berries. To
keep both, let the shrub grow as it likes. Many birds breed from March to the
end of July. In those months, check for a nest before you cut.

## Common dogwood problems and what to do

**Young shoots come up all over the lawn.** Those are suckers from the roots.
Dig them out, or mow the grass beside the shrub regularly.

**The shrub does not flower.** A low prune in spring removes the flowers. Let
the shrub grow for a year without pruning.

**White circles appear on the branches.** In early summer you sometimes see
white egg masses of 5 to 6 millimetres on the bark. They come from horse
chestnut scale, a small insect that sucks sap. The shrub copes well with it,
so you do not have to do anything.

**The leaves hang limp in a dry summer.** The soil has become too dry. Water
the shrub well a few times until the drought is over.

## Which birds and insects use common dogwood?

Common dogwood is a host plant of the holly blue, a common butterfly that also
lives in gardens. A host plant is a plant that caterpillars feed on. The green
hairstreak uses the shrub as a host plant too. That butterfly is fairly scarce
and occurs locally on sandy soils.

The leaves also feed the caterpillars of Antispila petryi, a small moth called
*rode-kornoeljegaatjesmaker* in Dutch. From August into November its
caterpillars live inside the leaf. In the Netherlands the species is known only
from South Limburg.

In summer the shrub is dense with leaves. Chiffchaffs, blackbirds, robins and
wrens then find a sheltered hiding place in it.

## Is common dogwood poisonous?

The berries taste bitter and can cause vomiting. In people with sensitive skin,
the leaves can cause irritation.

The photos on this page were made with AI, based on real photos and descriptions of this plant.

## Frequently asked questions

### How big does common dogwood grow?

Common dogwood grows 1.5 to 3 metres tall and 1.5 to 2.5 metres wide. If you leave the suckers that come up from the roots, the shrub spreads into a dense thicket.

### When should you prune common dogwood?

Pruning is not needed. For lots of young red stems, cut the shrub back low at the end of winter. The shrub then does not flower that year.

### Is common dogwood poisonous?

The berries taste bitter and can cause vomiting. The leaves can irritate sensitive skin.

### What is the difference between common dogwood and white dogwood?

Both shrubs have red stems in winter. Common dogwood bears blue-black berries, while white dogwood (Cornus alba) bears white ones.

### How much sun does common dogwood need?

Common dogwood grows in full sun to partial shade. Partial shade is three to six hours of direct sun a day around midsummer.

## Sources

- [Duistermaat, Sparrius & Denters, Standaardlijst van de Nederlandse flora 2020 (Gorteria 43)](https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/1019223)
- [NDFF Verspreidingsatlas — Cornus sanguinea](https://www.verspreidingsatlas.nl/0355)
- [Flora van Nederland — Rode kornoelje](https://www.floravannederland.nl/planten/rode_kornoelje)
- [RHS — Cornus sanguinea (common dogwood)](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/4408/cornus-sanguinea/details)
- [RHS — Cornus alba](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/4379/cornus-alba-l/details)
- [RHS — Shade gardening (definities zon en halfschaduw)](https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=934)
- [RHS — Pruning groups](https://www.rhs.org.uk/pruning/rhs-pruning-groups)
- [RHS — Winter stem colour dogwoods growing guide](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/cornus/for-stems/growing-guide)
- [RHS — Horse chestnut scale](https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/horse-chestnut-scale)
- [PFAF — Cornus sanguinea](https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Cornus+sanguinea)
- [Imkerpedia — Drachtplanten](https://www.imkerpedia.nl/wiki/index.php/Drachtplanten)
- [Pollennieuws — Aandachtspunten hooikoorts vriendelijke tuin](https://www.pollennieuws.nl/post/?permalink=aandachtspunten-hooikoorts-vriendelijke-tuin)
- [De Vlinderstichting — Boomblauwtje](https://vlinderstichting.nl/vlinder/boomblauwtje/)
- [De Vlinderstichting — Groentje](https://vlinderstichting.nl/vlinder/groentje/)
- [De Vlinderstichting — De bladmineerders van rode en gele kornoelje zijn verschillende soorten](https://www.vlinderstichting.nl/actueel/nieuws/nieuwsbericht/de-bladmineerders-van-rode-en-gele-kornoelje-zijn-verschillende-soorten)
- [Vogelbescherming — Tuintip: meer rood in de tuin](https://www.vogelbescherming.nl/actueel/bericht/tuintip-meer-rood-in-de-tuin)
- [Vogelbescherming — Snoeien in het broedseizoen, mag dat?](https://www.vogelbescherming.nl/actueel/bericht/snoeien-in-het-broedseizoen-mag-dat)
- [Directplant — Rode kornoelje (prijs per maat)](https://www.directplant.nl/rode-kornoelje.html)
- [Puur van 't Veld — Rode kornoelje 60-90 cm, blote wortel (prijs)](https://www.puurvantveld.eu/Cornus-Sanguinea-rode-kornoelje-60-90-cm-blote-wortel)
- [Planta — Cornus sanguinea 150-175 cm, met kluit (prijs)](https://www.planta.nl/cornus-sanguinea/150-175.-kl)
- [Den Mulder Boomteelt — Cornus sanguinea meerstammig / struik (prijs)](https://www.denmulderboomteelt.com/products/cornus-sanguinea-meerstammig)
- [Wikimedia Commons — Leaf: photo by AnRo0002 (CC0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20140424Cornus_sanguinea.jpg)
- [Wikimedia Commons — Flower: photo by AnRo0002 (CC0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20160518Cornus_sanguinea1.jpg)
- [Wikimedia Commons — Fruit: photo by AnRo0002 (CC0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20150918Cornus_sanguinea.jpg)

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