15 of the Best Dogwoods to Liven Up the Winter Landscape

15 of the Best Dogwoods to Liven Up the Winter Landscape

We work so hard to make our landscapes look incredible during the growing season. Why neglect them in the winter?

Dogwoods can provide an easy way to add a little color and shape to an otherwise bland space.

If you’ve ever stared out of a window at a garden that once was a riot of flowers and foliage, only to be miserably greeted by bare ground and dead plant material in the middle of February, you know how important a little colorful interest can be.

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And dogwoods don’t just add color to the garden. You can collect the stems and use them in floral arrangements indoors to liven up your interiors, too.

That would be enough to recommend them, in my book. But as an added bonus, they can be exceptionally beautiful during the warmer months as well.

In other words, they are truly the type of plants that offer four seasons of excitement in the landscape.

We’ll look at 15 exceptional options in more detail. Here’s the lineup:

All dogwoods perform better if you trim off some of the older stems to make room for the new growth, which tends to have brighter colors.

They also have the brightest hues when grown in full sun even though most can tolerate some shade.

You can learn more about growing dogwoods in our guide.

Without further ado, let’s start with a fiery option:

In Zones 3 to 7, C. sericea Arctic Fire® or ‘Farrow’ lives up to its name, with fiery red twigs on a dwarf plant that stays under four feet tall and wide.

Unlike the species, it doesn’t sucker, so you aren’t going to have to fight to keep it under