Tree · Cornaceae
Flowering dogwood
Cornus florida
Flowering dogwood is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,355 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Flowering dogwood at a glance
- Native in
- 1,355 counties, across 31 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 30 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Flowering dogwood is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,355 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,355 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 63 counties
- Arkansas 69 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 33 counties
- Georgia 49 counties
- Illinois 54 counties
- Indiana 79 counties
- Kansas 1 county
- Kentucky 118 counties
- Louisiana 48 counties
- Maine 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 29 counties
- Mississippi 65 counties
- Missouri 75 counties
- New Hampshire 6 counties
- New Jersey 18 counties
- New York 36 counties
- North Carolina 91 counties
- Ohio 84 counties
- Oklahoma 39 counties
- Pennsylvania 64 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 42 counties
- Tennessee 64 counties
- Texas 53 counties
- Vermont 2 counties
- Virginia 100 counties
- West Virginia 52 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 30 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 28 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.8 to 7.7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 18 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 160
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Early Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Red
Other
- Toxicity
- Not recorded
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cornaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- COFL2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Cornus florida (PLANTS symbol COFL2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources