Cornus sericea Flaviramea (Red)

Red-Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea), also called Red-Osier Dogwood, is a deciduous native shrub of moist ground, streambanks, and wetland edges ranging across most of northern North America from Alaska south to Virginia and California. Forms spreading thickets 7 to 10+ feet tall on upright slender stems that glow brilliant red through winter.

Oval leaves turn wine-purple in fall. Flat-topped clusters of small dull-white flowers open in late spring to early summer, followed by small white (sometimes bluish-white) berries that feed songbirds through fall.

FEIS describes C. sericea as a riparian keystone. Widely browsed by a range of wildlife and heavily used by songbirds for fruit and cover. NC State lists it as a larval host for butterflies and a pollinator-support shrub for bees. Seldom browsed by deer, so it holds its form in deer-pressure zones.

Traditional Indigenous plant; the inner bark was part of the kinnikinnick smoking mixture used by many Plateau and Coastal Nations. Documented NAEB uses for Cree, Ojibwa, and Thompson peoples (broader PNW record well-documented in regional ethnobotany literature).

Coastal-suited: naturally occurring along the Oregon and Washington coast in wet flats and streambanks.

Cut a third of the oldest stems to the ground each late winter to keep the newest (reddest) stems coming. Classic native partner for Pacific Ninebark, Sword Fern, Western Red Cedar, and Nootka Rose.

'Flaviramea' is the yellow-twig form. The classic red/yellow stem pairing for winter garden impact. Both colors available; this listing is the red-stem companion pairing.