The last deciduous tree in our gardens to color up each season is what was given to me originally as the Cornus x rutgersensis 'Galaxy' hybrid. This Rutgers hybrid is now called 'Celestial'. Here in zone 4-5 it blooms well only after quite mild winters such as last year. The first picture is from this past seasons's bloom and was taken on May 26th. The Rutger's Stellar series are hybrids between florida and kousa dogwoods, originally hybridized to create a more vigorous plant that could resist the dogwood borer, happily they have also proved quite resistant to powdery mildew and dogwood anthracnose. Introduced in the early 90's, the trees represent many years of work on the part of Dr. Elwin Orton at Rutger's University.
I look forward to the availability of cultivars that are more bud hardy and one that I've been watching for in particular is Cornus kousa x nutallii ‘Venus’ which has also been bred by Dr. Orton. There are all kinds of conflicting reports on the web as to its hardiness and I've seen it listed as zone 4 in some sites, while others report 5b hardiness. Of course, as any gardener knows, there is much more to this than how much cold that a plant can withstand. Venus is said to be quite vigorous and one of its primary benefits seems to be prolific white 6" bloom.
Dogwoods appear to appreciate evenly moist soil... several years ago I lost a Satomi dogwood during the summer and I presume it was drought that killed it. I did however get a seedling that I have been nursing along for several years and it is finally taking off after not having any dieback from last winter.
At any rate... I digress... here are photos of Galaxy in bloom (actually with white bracts) and photos taken earlier today of its fall color... all for now, Larry
p.s. if anyone out there has had experience with Cornus kousa x nutallii ‘Venus’, I'd love to hear about it!
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