alba 'Bloodgood' – very attractive, with vibrant red stems in the winter Douglas Tallamy, the entomologist, environmentalist and the author of several books (including Bringing Nature Home and Nature's Best Hope), recommends practicing a 10-step program: 'Take 10 steps back from the trunk and all your insect problems go away.' Feeding damage can be extensive, but it's usually short lived before the insects pupate into adults plants usually recover fairly quickly, and sawfly larvae are an important food source for songbirds. Dogwood sawfly – These caterpillar-like insects love to chew holes in the leaves of twig dogwoods.The best way to prevent Septoria leaf spot is to rake and remove fallen leaves at the end of the growing season as the disease overwinters in spent foliage on the ground. Chemical treatments are not usually recommended.

Septoria leaf spot – This ruins the appearance of foliage late in the summer or early in the fall but is usually more of an aesthetic problem than a serious health issue.According to Paul Cappiello and Don Shadow in Dogwoods: The Genus Cornus, treatment is not usually recommended This is more common after moist and cool spring weather. Symptoms are small lesions with a light center - the center may fall out of the spot later in the season. Leaf spot anthracnose – This is more of an annoying aesthetic problem than a serious detriment to plant health.To limit stem canker problems, avoid planting in heavy, poorly drained soils, provide consistent irrigation throughout the growing season, avoid over-fertilizing and cut back annually Stem canker – The most serious disease of twig dogwoods, stem canker causes dark, sunken lesions on the stem and eventually stem dieback.

Red twig dogwood in summer