Cornus mas

[tomc]

I'm a little fat in the head. And this self assurance has gotten me in trouble before. For most tree seed, a quick potting of fresh (as in still moist) seed will result the next spring, in germinating seedlings. Its really quite dependable--mostly.

Until I run into a tree that won't paint inside those lines. Where exactly cornelian cherry first escaped from has me thinking it didn't have many chilling hours; Georgia, Turkey maybe ((shrugs shoulders)).

When all else fails it becomes time to drag out Mike Dirrs' Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Where he recommends a warm spell of stratification, and then a cool one.

Where ever 'home' is for this dogwood, summer must go on for quite a spell. Dirrs' recommended warm is quite full on for summer, like 120 days of 70+°F.

Now lets see if I can provide this bounty without a heating mat...

[valley]

Hi Tom, This, Tree,Cornus mas, brings back memories, we were in Artsakh it 2007, an area of Armenia taken by Stalin and given to another country when he was in power. Much of the Artsakh is free now, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, though they still shoot at us. This tree grows in and around Stepanakert the capital. We hired a driver to take us to a shrine, on the way we stopped and gathered fruit from this tree, the driver's wife made a drink from it as well as drying them like raisins. The lay of the land there in Artsakh is much like where you live. I would think you should have great luck growing it. I wonder if it would grow up here. Good luck with it.

Richard

Geraz is the name of the fruit, the meat inside of the seed {malab} we use in bread for a fresh smell and tast.