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Disease Resistant Dogwoods

Making It Grow Minute
SC Public Radio

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. A cultivar is a named variety of a particular plant that was selected or breed to have certain characteristics, often they’re vegetatively propagated  so all the plants with that name are exactly the same. It used to be that people often planted seedling dogwoods in their yards and the only downside was perhaps waiting a long time for the trees to bloom.

But today there are many diseases of dogwoods –   anthacnose, powdery mildew and other leaf  infections – some more serious than others.  But all affect the beauty of this native tree that blooms along with our azaleas to make showplaces of southern gardens. Fortunately, there are cultivars available with resistance to some of these diseases, an example is Appalachian Snow,  and you should choose one of those when adding dogwoods to your landscape.  Search Clemson HGIC dogwood and dogwood diseases for more information.

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.