Gray Dogwood vs Diamond-Leaf Willow

Diamond-Leaf Willow is a native deciduous shrub known for its glossy diamond-shaped leaves, which give the shrub its name. Its catkins emerge in spring, providing an important early source of pollen for pollinators. The shrub’s dense growth also offers valuable cover and browse for wildlife, including moose and deer.

This shrub is well-suited to cool, moist habitats such as wetlands, streambanks, and forest openings. It spreads by rhizomes, helping to stabilize soils and form dense thickets. Diamond-Leaf Willow is valuable for reclamation, wetland enhancement, shelterbelt plantings, and a wide range of conservation and habitat restoration projects.

Gray dogwood is a thicket-forming, deciduous shrub with greenish-white blossoms in open, terminal clusters. Young twigs are red and the fruit pedicels remain conspicuously red into late fall and early winter.

Fruit itself is a white, 1/4 in. drupe that usually does not remain on the shrub for long.

Great for naturalizing wild areas, this shrub attracts birds and other wildlife.

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