Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Trees and shrubs: Cornus kousa satomi - with berries, 0 by aguy1947

aguy1947 wrote:
The original seedling came to me as Cornus florida. A friend interested in trees got the seed over 10 yrs ago from someplace like JCHudson.... Me, I figured it couldn't be Cornus florida, suspected Cornus kousa satomi.... and put the question to a botanist as I presented a tray of seedlings. The botanist (on the assumption of Cornus) indicated off the top of his head that kousa blooms in summer (satomi is pink) .... If you are convinced that the tree is Cotoneaster, which one am I to look up (been here before too)? The only Cotoneaster that I have is the (probably) horizontalis situated in a sloped bed.... and doing well. Please note that the tree foliage persisted late into Fall. I have reviewed the RD Encyclopedia info on Cornus and Cotoneaster and I am none the wiser. The flower in all pictures of Cornus kousa is indeed much showier than what blooms on this tree. Note the drupes of berries..... like small clusters of Mountain Ash (dogberries here). The birds don't appear to like the berries, whereas they clean the white berries from Cornus stolonifera in the wild...... FYI, we reside in the country - the original parcel contained 10 acres, below the grade of the road, on a slope.......... valley rim, protected from prevailing westerly wind. We sold 5 acres recently. The house and garden are in the SW corner.... with our view of the ocean - a mile distant to the NE. The woods here are coniferous - mainly spruce and fir, with some larch, birch, aspen, alders, etc.......... the terrain is Appalachian, but marshes, lakes, and barrens are here en masse. Nickname of Newfoundland = The Rock For gardeners, the main enemy is wind. The climate is maritime, (but) the weather is bloody awful.

What is the definitive method of identification of Cornus vs Cotoneaster vs something else? The University Library is ten miles away..... Whatever the name, it is worth growing! BTW, my main interest is dahlias........... breeding some.

Bill in SE Newfoundland.