The Yellow Twig Dogwood, otherwise known as the Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ or Golden-Twig Dogwood, Cornus stolonifera ‘Flaviramea’, is a rather well known shrub plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and moderate growth, this shrub will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
This is why all the topics you need to know in order to achieve this will be covered in this Yellow Twig Dogwood Care Guide. Ready? Let’s go!
The basic care guidelines you need to remember for your Yellow Twig Dogwood are the following:
- Water: The Yellow Twig Dogwood grows best with regular watering to keep the soil moist during the dry season. Reduce watering once the plant is established.
- Light: Keep your Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ in an environment where it can receive partial to full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Yellow Twig Dogwood in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of clay, loam, chalk, and sand.
And as with many other plants, these are the only three care factors you need to remember to make sure your Yellow Twig Dogwood is, for the most part, healthy and well to survive.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Yellow Twig Dogwood belongs to the Cornaceae family, the genus Cornus and the species Sericea, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ (KOR-nus ser-E-se-a flah-vi-RAHM-ee-a).
As with other Cornus’s, the Yellow Twig Dogwood is a deciduous plant, which means it will shed its leaves annually once autumn comes.
Growing Region
As a rule of thumb, we recommend to always keep in mind your plants’ native region and environment, since these are the conditions that your Yellow Twig Dogwood is most accustomed to, thus where it can most favorably.
With this in mind, the Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ will be most used to the heat zones in the 1 – 8 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5b, 5a, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9b, 9a and the ideal climate zone is between 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, A1, A2, A3.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Yellow Twig Dogwood is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But, what size of Yellow Twig Dogwood are we talking about? What can you expect in terms of height, spread and spacing? Let’s dig in…
The Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ can grow up to 5′ – 8′ (150cm – 240cm) in 5′ – 8′ (150cm – 240cm) and 5′ – 8′ (150cm – 240cm) in 5′ – 8′ (150cm – 240cm).
These dimensions make the Yellow Twig Dogwood a relatively large shrub compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
Also, expect it to grow in a wonderful pyramidal shape, which is something worthwhile to remember when making your garden landscape plans.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 96″ (240cm) free so the Yellow Twig Dogwood can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Yellow Twig Dogwood is a fairly complicated plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a not so straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ grows best with regular watering to keep the soil moist during the dry season. Reduce watering once the plant is established.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively average needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Yellow Twig Dogwood in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, occasionally dry, and occasionally wet properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Yellow Twig Dogwood then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Yellow Twig Dogwood needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Yellow Twig Dogwood prefers to have soil with good drainage, occasionally dry, and occasionally wet properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of clay, loam, chalk, and sand.
This is why most experts agree that the Yellow Twig Dogwood requires soil with loam (silt), sand, clay, high organic matter, and shallow rocky, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Yellow Twig Dogwood requires partial to full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this shrub will do well as long as you keep it in partial to full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ in little to partial shade (only 2-6 hours of direct sunlight a day), to full and direct sun (more 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being a deciduous plant, the Yellow Twig Dogwood will shed its leaves annually once autumn comes.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the spring (early, mid, late), the summer (early, mid, late), the fall, and during the winter.
Flowers
You can expect your Yellow Twig Dogwood to flower around the spring months from April to June (spring).
In particular, this shrub is well known for its showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Yellow Twig Dogwood produces some beautiful white, or purple/lavender and white flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Yellow Twig Dogwood have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Yellow Twig Dogwood is well known for being able to attract butterflies and birds, so keep that in mind when choosing your plant, as you’ll likely end up finding one or another in your garden.
Additionally, it has a special tolerance for clay soil, wet soil and animals like deer, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ will be fine.
Garden
Does your Yellow Twig Dogwood have any garden recommendations? Does it serve any gardening purposes? Here’s how you can get the most out of your new plant.
Most Cornus Sericea ‘Flaviramea’ owners agree that this shrub will look great in most cottage, asian/zen contemporary, and rustic gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of prairie and meadow, informal and cottage, and in traditional garden styles.
In particular, the Yellow Twig Dogwood’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, and in ponds and streams, others use it for landscaping in a specimen, cutting garden, privacy screen, urban garden, border, erosion control, hedge, wildlife garden, mass planting, or a woodland garden.
Companion Plants
Yellow Twig Dogwood’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Aronia, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Weigela will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
So that’s it! These are the main plant care requirements that you need to keep in mind in order to have a healthy Yellow Twig Dogwood in your garden or home.
