Can you give me some general information about Dogwoods and anthracnose? Also, I would like to know about coppicing Cotinus coggygria.
Here is information about dogwoods and anthracnose from University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Washington State University’s HortSense website has a factsheet on anthracnose for home gardeners which recommends the following:
- Plant species which are anthracnose-resistant. Dogwoods showing very good resistance include: C. kousa ‘Beni Fuji’, C. kousa ‘China Girl’, C. kousa ‘Lance Leaf’, C. kousa ‘Milky Way’, C. kousa ‘Porlock’, C. kousa ‘Silver Cup’, C. kousa ‘Snow Bird’, C. kousa ‘Speciosa’, C. kousa ‘Summer Majesty’, C. kousa ‘Tsukabo-no-nine’, C. kousa ‘Wilton’, C. kousa ‘Dwarf Pink’, C. kousa ‘Ed Mezett’, C. kousa ‘Satomi’, C. florida hybrids, C. florida ‘Spring Grove’, C. florida ‘Sunset’, C. racemosa, C. canadensis, C. mas, C. alba, C. alternifola, C. sericea, and C. sericea ‘Flaviramea’.
- Where practical, prune and destroy infected twigs to prevent overwintering of the disease.
- Rake and destroy all fallen leaves, both during the summer and in the fall.
- Do not compost diseased materials.
Oregon State University Extension’s Online Guide to Plant Disease Control (aimed at professional horticulturists) provides a corroborating list of cultural controls for Anthracnose and adds an extensive list of chemical controls. It’s always best to use cultural controls and avoid chemical ones if you can.
Some dogwoods in the Pacific Northwest have been known to recover from anthracnose, according to Douglas Justice of University of British Columbia Botanical Garden.
The Royal Horticultural Society has useful general information on coppicing, and includes Cotinus coggygria (smoke tree) among those plants which respond well to this pruning technique.