Size: 3-8 feet high and wide, shrub; 25 feet as a small tree
Light: Sun or shade
Soil: Wet; adaptable to drier sites
Blooms: Showy, white on red stalks, May and June; white summer berries; red stems persist after birds eat the berries (photo #3)
Foliage: Purplish fall
Landscape: Informal hedge or perennial border
Resistance: wet, heavy shade
More information and native range here
Dogwood, Gray
Pollinator value: Very High: native bees, larval host Spring Azure butterfly and several moth species. Birds including bluebird and woodpeckers eat the berries. Nesting site for birds and small mammals.
On horticulturalist William Cullina's "short list of shrubs important to wildlife."
Beautiful in a moist, sunny area where it has room to spread, with its showy flower clusters and white berries atop red stems. Gray dogwood lacks the bright red twigs of Red Twig Dogwood but makes up for it with a lovely form in thin, new branches form along the stems, creating a finely textured plant.
Suckers can be removed to prevent spread.