Pollination of Cornus Mas (Cornelian Cherry Dogwood)

Hello Dave's Garden Friends,

I purchased one species (ie seedling, not a clone) Cornus mas many years ago. It is now healthy and full and well over 10' tall. It never produced fruit so I purchased a second plant, Cornus mas 'Golden Glory', which is about 5 years old and blooms plentifully each year. They are about 25-30 feet apart. I still get zero pollination. I watch the flowers closely and the ovaries don't swell. I see zero pollinators (bees and other insects) attracted to the plants. I have tried hand pollinating (there is no visible pollen so that was tough), spraying sugar water on the flowers to try to attract pollinators.

Any suggestions?

Please remember that these are not cherries, these are dogwoods, so don't post suggestions that might work for cherry trees. These are a different genus.

Thank you for your answers!

This section below is my replies to previous answers; for some reason I can't post a reply, I can only edit my original post (!!?? &^%$*!!). When I click "reply", nothing happens.

I changed my question to be more clear: To Resin, yes, the two plants are not genetically identical. One was a seedling, and the other a named clone. Sorry I was unclear.

To Viburnum Valley: great idea about the trash can, I'll try it! I can see both stamens and pistils on the flowers. Maybe that's just the way they are. Both my little and big trees have perfect flowers (stamens and pistils).

Mipii - interesting history about the male and female, thanks.

My big tree was planted in 1996, so I'm close to the 20 year mark, and maybe I'll get lucky soon. With the lack of pollinators, though, it looks bad. I'm thinking of planting an early, yellow flowering bee magnet nearby to attract insects. Nothing much blooms that early, though.



This message was edited Jan 13, 2014 8:21 AM

This message was edited Jan 13, 2014 8:23 AM

Were the two plants from the same nursery? If yes, they could be the same clone, and therefore behave as a single individual with no cross-pollination.

Resin

I found this information:
The etymological root of the binomial name Cornus is derived from the Latincornus ‘horn’, due to its dense properties and was originally the old name for this plant. Mas meaning male, derived form another of its names the Male Cornel (given to this plant by John Gerard in 1597).
http://davisla.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/plant-of-the-week-cornus-mas/
Cornus mas, "male" cornel, was named so to distinguish it from the true dogberry, the "female" cornel, C. sanguinea, and so it appears in John Gerard's Herbal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornus_mas

I looked this up as I have been interested in Cornus lately- I found out quite a bit- Raintree nursery says get two cultivars for best fruiting, another said they are "partly self-fertile". The most interesting I found were these articles from the Arnold Arboretum. Apparently mas means male, and they called it that because young trees only produce male flowers. The flowers become "perfect" (with both male and female parts) only later in maturity. One website said it can take 20 years to produce fruit.

http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/search?cx=008638405516330752911%3A9zx59rbxus0&cof=FORID%3A11&q=cornus+mas&sa=Search

I can vouch for Cornus mas producing few fruit when planted in single clones, but I don't agree with taking twenty years to produce fruit.

I have 6 large Cornus mas 'Golden Glory' on my property, planted more than twenty years ago. I also have a half dozen 'Redstone', some seedling plants, and new this year - six new clones, too small to flower.

I had a smattering of fruit when I only had 'Golden Glory'. I have plenty of fruit since having addtional non-identical plants.

If Phrederica doesn't have any insects assisting with the pollination effort - that's a problem. Maybe you should put your garbage cans near these plants when they are blooming - that'll bring flies every time, no matter how early in spring.

Take pictures of the flowers, and observe them closely to see the stamens and/or pistils. This will certainly make a difference if you are attempting to assist pollination yourself - so that you are working with known male and female reproductive parts.