Kousa dogwood
Cornus kousa
Kousa dogwood is a small deciduous tree native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China, grown for its long-lasting late-spring flower display — four pointed white bracts surrounding inconspicuous yellow-green flowers — followed by scarlet strawberry-like compound fruits in late summer. It blooms about a month later than the American flowering dogwood and is strongly resistant to dogwood anthracnose disease (Discula destructiva), making it the safer ornamental choice in most gardens. The honest catch is its soil chemistry demand: it requires acidic, well-drained soil and will develop iron chlorosis and fail to thrive in alkaline or waterlogged conditions — and the strawberry-sized fruits that drop in autumn are sticky and messy on paving.
Climate fit: narrow (30/100)
Focal point
Structure
Pollinator
Light
Full sun / Part sun
Water
Moderate water
Mature size
180-300" tall · 216" apart
Hardy in zones
5a-8b
very cold to frosty winters
Native in Illinois
No
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Individual trees set fruit reliably without a cross-pollinator, but planting two or more specimens often increases fruit set and size.
Cold hardiness
These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.
Now
Zone 6b
Plotwright
USDA Zone 6b
-5°F to 0°F
Well-suited
Zone 7a
Plotwright
0°F to 5°F
Well-suited
In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.
✓
Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.
Heat tolerance
Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.
Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...
Where this plant fits
Suitable across 40 ecoregions — 34 climate-resilient through 2070 · 5 suited today · 1 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.
Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests
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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
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Arizona Mountains forests
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Blue Mountains forests
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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands
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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests
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Central Tallgrass prairie
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Central-Southern Cascades Forests
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Colorado Rockies forests
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Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland
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Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.
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Common hawthorn
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Date plum (Diospyros lotus) is a deciduous tree native from northeastern and south-central Turkey east through Iran, the Himalayas, and Central Asia to China and Korea, with a history of cultivation reaching back to antiquity — possibly the "lotus" of Homer's Odyssey. In gardens it offers glossy foliage, small greenish-cream flowers in summer, and ornamental fruit ripening to yellow then blue-black. The honest catch is twofold: the tree is dioecious, so a male is needed near a female for a proper seeded crop (a lone female sets only sparse, often seedless fruit), and the fruit is intensely astringent until fully ripe or frost-softened, so it is messy and unpalatable if picked early.
Educator packet
Plant packet
Kousa dogwood educator packet
Kousa dogwood is a small deciduous tree native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China, grown for its long-lasting late-spring flower display — four pointed white bracts surrounding inconspicuous yellow-green flowers — followed by scarlet strawberry-like compound fruits in late summer. It blooms about a month later than the American flowering dogwood and is strongly resistant to dogwood anthracnose disease (Discula destructiva), making it the safer ornamental choice in most gardens. The honest catch is its soil chemistry demand: it requires acidic, well-drained soil and will develop iron chlorosis and fail to thrive in alkaline or waterlogged conditions — and the strawberry-sized fruits that drop in autumn are sticky and messy on paving.
Scientific name
Cornus kousa
Plant type
tree
Hardiness
5a-8b
Light
full-sun, part-sun
Moisture
moderate
Spacing
216 inches
Classroom prompts
- Which plant traits are observations, and which are care recommendations?
- How would this plant fit change if the garden location moved warmer, colder, wetter, or drier?
- Which source-backed facts would you cite in a lesson handout?
Use the Sources & citations section below for page citation styles and the field-level source list.
Sources & citations
Cite this page
For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.
Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa). Retrieved 2026, June 30, from https://plotwright.com/plants/cornus-kousa
Sources for every fact
Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited - 18 source-backed.
RHS Find a Plant
Botanical research database
Backs 17 fields
Identity
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