A greenhouse study was designed to test the response of red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea L.) to NaCl during the onset of bud break. Seedlings treated with 50 mmol·L–1 NaCl for 32 d had lower shoot dry mass and shoot height than untreated seedlings. Transpiration and photosynthetic rates, chlorophyll b and carotenoid concentrations of red-osier dogwood seedlings were significantly reduced by NaCl treatment. The shoots of seedlings treated with 50 mmol·L–1 NaCl had a higher bulk modulus of cell wall elasticity than those of untreated seedlings, but the water potential components determined from the pressure-volume curves, osmotic potential and pressure potential at full turgor and osmotic potential at pressure loss, suggest that this change did not contribute to salt tolerance. Minor changes, including a small increase in arabinose of the hemicellulose fraction and a decrease in both galactose and rhamnose of the pectin fraction, also occurred in response to NaCl treatment. These changes in cell wall composition and elasticity could be partly attributed to differences in the developmental stage of the shoot tissues resulting from the delay in bud breaking in salt treated plants.