Dogwood Aurora

* Common name: Dogwood Aurora(R)

* Botanical name: Cornus x ‘Rutban’

* What it is: A small flowering tree with white late-April flowers. ‘Aurora’ is a cross between American and Chinese (Kousa) dogwoods, bred at Rutgers University for better resistant to borers and anthracnose leaf disease. Gets bright burgundy fall foliage but produces no fruits.

* Size: About 18 feet tall and wide.

* Where to use: Beautiful specimen tree for small yards, especially out front. Also nice at a house corner if you plant it at least 9 feet out from the walls. Sun or part shade.

* Care: More tolerant of sun and clay soil than American dogwood but does best in improved soil that’s damp but well drained. Prune out competing trunks and crossing branches to train when young, then remove lower limbs as tree grows. Keep consistently damp in first few years to help the roots establish. Scatter a balanced, organic fertilizer such as Tree Tone over the ground each spring for the first few years, then fertilizer usually not needed.

* Great partner: Russian cypress or spreading English yew ‘Repandens’ make a good, low evergreen underplanting.