Cornus kousa var. chinensis

This supremely elegant multi-stemmed shrub produces a beautiful display of flowerheads along the tops of its layered branches. Tiny button-like flowers are surrounded by bracts which are at first in delicate shades of green, becoming creamy white at their peak in June, then developing rose pink tints. After a warm summer, small strawberry-like fruits hang from the branches and lovely autumn leaf colour of bronze and scarlet develops.

Ernest ‘Chinese’ Wilson was arguably the most successful of the Edwardian planthunters, having 60 species named after him, and C. kousa var. chinensis has been one of his most popular introductions into western cultivation, from 1907. It was given the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1993.

This plant grows in the lawn not far from the entrance to the Robert Marnock Garden. Another stunning specimen, a cultivar, grows on the West Lawn and is slightly less floriferous than usual this year.