Every gardener dreams of having a beautiful, vibrant, and productive garden, but adding different colors to your plant can be tough.
This is why there is one plant that brings amazing beauty to your garden, especially in winters when other plants tend to wilt; the Red Twig Dogwood is adored for its vibrant color and creating visual majesty.
Red Twig Dogwood is a shrub with a shiny red look to your open space in white snowy winters, and its white flower clusters with green foliage is an attraction in the summer and spring season.
Red Twig Dogwood is relatively easy to grow and care for and requires minimal attention making it an easy choice for every gardener.
Red Twig Dogwood shows better growth and helps other plants to grow as well when planted with the right companion plants.
In this article, we will learn about the good companion plants of red twig dogwood, which will help your garden bloom along with the plants to avoid planting near them.
Let us dive right into it.
Why Does Red Twig Dogwood Need Companion Plants?
Red twig dogwood is a plant that needs a companion to complement its beautiful white clusters of flowers in summer, like daylilies, and in winter, when it sheds the green foliage and looks shiny red in color, plants like bald cypress compliments it.
Hydrangeas attract beneficial pollinators like hummingbirds and butterflies to the red twig dogwood.
Best Red Twig Dogwood Companion Plants
Now, let us know about some plants that, if planted near red twig dogwood, will boost the plant’s growth while benefiting itself from the neighbor.
1. Hydrangeas
A very good companion plant of red twig dogwood is hydrangeas. It is one of the easiest plants to grow, producing a great combination of colors that makes the garden attractive.
They show their blue, white, pink, and purple flowers, complementing the red twig dogwood in winter.
They attract many pollinators like bees and butterflies, which is beneficial to the garden and the twig dogwood.
Both these plants can be planted together to create impeccable beauty.
2. Daylily
Daylilies are another good friend of red twig dogwood plants and are considered the perfect perennial plants.
Daylilies are easy to grow and can tolerate any soil conditions, making them a good addition. They are not affected by many pests either, making it a safe option for red twig dogwood.
When planted in a series with daylilies, red twig dogwood gives a beautiful scenic view of different colors blooming in the summertime.
They both have similar growing requirements as these plants require at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight daily and moist soil to grow.
Daylilies attract butterflies to your red twig dogwood and help the entire garden pollinate.
If planted together, red twig dogwood and daylilies will bring your garden a rainbow of colors.
3. Red Oak
The beautiful red leaves produced by the red oak makes it one of the most desired plants in the garden. And this quality of red oak has brought it to the list of good companion plants of red twig dogwood.
They both complement each other very well and create a breathtaking effect. Red oak trees are fast-growing and tal plants that can be planted behind the red twig dogwood plant to provide an attractive look.
Both these plants have similar growing needs, as they both need full sun to thrive, although red oak can do better even if provided a bit of shade.
Red oak provides partial shade to red twig dogwood if planted behind it, allowing gardeners to plant red twigs in the scorching heat. Red oak, along with shade, will provide a pleasant breeze.
4. Bald Cypress
This addition to your garden will bring plenty of redness to your garden, as bald cypress is another good companion plant of red twig dogwood.
If you have some space in your garden area, bald cypress is something, you do not want to miss.
They take up a lot of space, but when they are grown, they are absolutely stunning. They get this name because they shed all their orange and red color leaves in the fall.
They are good for preventing soil erosion and require a hefty amount of water for their growth.
What are Red Twig Dogwood’s growing requirements?
After knowing all the best companion plants for the red twig dogwood plantation, it is very crucial to know the growing requirements for healthy and fast growth of the plant.
1. Soil Requirements
Red twig dogwoods require moist and well-draining soil to thrive, but it is not choosy and does well in almost all types of soil, including clay or rocky.
A mineral-rich soil is equally important for healthy growth.
2. Light Requirements
Red twig dogwoods are sun-loving plants and require almost 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight. Although it does not mind a bit of partial shade, it loves to be exposed to direct sunlight, which helps it thrive in the garden for a longer period.
3. Water Requirements
These plants require watering once a week when they are new, and they need a well moist condition to grow well. They can also be drought tolerant once grown and only require watering if there is too much heat or dry spells.
4. Fertilizer Requirements
Red twig dogwood plant is generally considered a healthy plant, and little to no fertilizer is required. However, you can provide some amount of compost before the growing season or a generic all-usage fertilizer to help the cause.
Grass Diseases And Pests
Red twig dogwoods are affected and prone to disease when they are planted out of their comfort zones, like in scorching heat or in water-logged areas.
Some common health issue in red twig dogwoods are cankering stems; when grown in poor draining and water-logging soil, the red twig dogwoods are affected by stem canker, where the stems get dark sunken and eventually die if not taken care of.
The plant is attacked by a bacterial pathogen and will look yellow or wilted if affected by stem canker.
Some other pests that are a risk to red twig dogwood plants are scale, leaf miners, and bagworms which are not fatal, but if pests’ attack gets too serious, then general pesticides can be used to eliminate them.
Conclusion
Red twig dogwood plants are ever beautiful and majestic, providing amazing red shine in winters, making it one of the most desired plants.
If you are looking to grow one in your garden, do plant it with its good companions listed above to increase the beauty and productivity of the beautiful twig dogwoods. Also, keep in mind the growing requirements mentioned above for healthy and fast growth.
Happy Planting.