Plant Encyclopedia

Brand:  Rutgers University

Description:

A heavily flowering selection, featuring long lasting deep rose-pink blooms that cover it in spring; foliage turns a rich red in the fall; a vigorous grower with clean, disease resistant foliage; a great choice for a front yard accent tree

Ornamental Features

Scarlet Fire® Flowering Dogwood is smothered in stunning clusters of rose flowers with pink overtones and scarlet edges held atop the branches from mid spring to early summer. It has attractive green foliage with rose veins. The glossy pointy leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding red in the fall. It produces pink berries with red hints from early to mid fall. The fruit can be messy if allowed to drop on the lawn or walkways, and may require occasional clean-up. The peeling gray bark and antique red branches are extremely showy and add significant winter interest.

Landscape Attributes

Scarlet Fire® Flowering Dogwood is a deciduous tree with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Scarlet Fire® Flowering Dogwood is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Shade

Planting & Growing

Scarlet Fire® Flowering Dogwood will grow to be about 25 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 20 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 3 feet from the ground, and should not be planted underneath power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.