Hello everyone, this is my first thread here… I live in Germany and about 1 month ago I bought a Cornus „Satomi“. I already had one which is planted in pot on my balcony and it has these very beautiful color intensive bracts. But the new one is very pale, the bracts are all white with just pale pink edges. I‘m very disappointed about that and I don‘t understand why they are so different! I‘m wondering whether they will always have this color or if they color will get more intense. I‘ve been reading in this forum and I found a thread (started by „leafclimber“) on this theme but the answers were different: Some wrote that it depends on several conditions and can vary every year but there was also they answer that originally there were three different kinds of Satomi - Satomi red, Satomi pink and Satomi white. So if I received this „Satomi white“ version I will always be disappointed about the Color.. Especially that the plants are exposed to the same weather conditions and look that different really confuses me. So I would be very pleased to hear about your experiences! Does anyone have a similar initial specimen and has been able to observe the color development over a longer period of time? Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anything on this so far… I am attaching photos of the two plants, they were taken one right after the other.
I've had my Satomi for 15 years, and I don't think it has ever been the same colour twice. The colour was most intense this year, after acidifying the soil with sulphur.
Thank you very much for your contribution! That's really exciting. In fact, my Satomi, which was so pale in spring, flowered again vigorously in autumn with considerably more mock flowers, and these had a much stronger coloration. In this respect, I can probably already confirm your experience. I was really impressed with it! Maybe next year I'll still try it with a little sulphur. Many thanks for the tip.
It looks like one of your cornuses is in the container, the other in the ground. Are they in similar light conditions? I guess, that difference in pH and sun exposure is the main reason for different coloration of bracts
Yes, that‘s right. They are both on the south side and the light conditions are pretty much the same. I added acidic soil to both when I planted them. I also read once that newly planted specimens sometimes develop little color... However, the one in the pot already had an intense color from the start, I initially had it in the spot where the other one is now.
On my screen even the in ground plant looks slightly pink, so probably it isn't pure white. I suppose, that next year its bracts will be more colorful. Especially if you provide some amendments which lower the pH.