Bloom of the Day Photos: November 22nd, 2009: Chinese Dogwood 'Wolf Eyes' (Cornus kousa) by ViburnumValle, 1 by ViburnumValley

ViburnumValley wrote:
Thank you all for the compliments. I wish I could take credit for more than aiming and snapping the shutter.

This 'Wolf Eyes' kousa dogwood was planted in Louisville KY by a good friend of mine, and in yet a third person's yard. It graces the view as one traverses Taylorsville Road near Bowman Field (info for locals who may not have seen it yet).

This particular plant doesn't receive any special treatment, and is growing in lawn under rather normal conditions (I think there is one big tree that casts some afternoon shade towards the dogwood) on circumneutral clay loam soil. I would think that the northeast states like NJ, PA, NY, etc. and any other place that can successfully grow the Cornus kousa species would do fine with this selection.

I think this plant would be exceptional in the garden understory, given the bright variegation and that this would be normal habitat for Kousa Dogwood. I also suspect that you would get somewhat less flowering if the amount of sunlight is reduced. As you can see from the range of images in PlantFiles, however, it is difficult to pick out the flowers from among the vivid foliage till they are fully developed.

I can't claim to have seen all the 'Wolf Eyes' ever planted, but the ones I have seem to all be much broader spreading plants in youth than typical Cornus kousa, so plan for that in your landscape when using this attractive plant.