Dogwood blossoms, Dog Tree or Hound Tree as some called it in the 17th century, are my favorite. The graceful boughs of floating white or pink can be found all the way from northern Florida to southern Maine. How I miss them...because by the time you have made your way up the coast to my small village, they are nowhere to be found. The densely packed flowers are surrounded by petal-like bracts and in time, the flowers will produce berries. According to legend, Jesus Christ was crucified on the exceptionally hard wood of the Dogwood and God cursed the tree causing it to be stunted and twisted. The bracts are said to form the shape of the cross and the crimson tips represent the nails. However you view Dogwood, they are beautiful. The translucent petal shapes are luminous in light in a distinct way from other flowering trees.
The flowers are nestled in the four bracts. Photo taken 12 April, 2009 at Ash Lawn-Highland, James Monroe's garden in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Floating Dogwood frames the stately ruins of Rosewell in Gloucster County, Virginia. Photo taken 5 April, 2010.
Many months of my husband's genealogy research lead us to White Clay Creek Church in Newark, Delaware. A delicate branch of Dogwood arches over the graves of my great great grandparents. Photo taken 6 April, 2010.
Back lighted Dogwood petals taken on our recent trip to Connecticut.
Dogwood combines with a Japanese Maple tree with the effect of fireworks against a vivid blue sky. Also taken on our recent trip to Connecticut.
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We have so many dogwoods and the pink is the finest - unexpectedly so nineteen years ago when I first saw the trees. All those years ago I painted a mural that had lots of dogwood in it. I think its still there.
ReplyDeleteBlue ~ I would dearly love to see a photo of your mural!
DeleteHello Carol:
ReplyDeleteExceptionally lovely images. And how splendid that you should have discovered a Dogwood sheltering the graves of your great great grandparents.
Hello Jane and Lance ~ Thank you very much! The Dogwood ever the graves was exceptionally beautiful, the timing of our trip to Delaware couldn't have been more perfect.
DeleteMy dogwoods have come and gone in this too soon spring. I planted Cherokee Chiefs in memory of my great grandmother who was Cherokee and one was mislabeled, we don' know what it is but by the back door it is white with the palest pink edges perfectly sited to be the special one in a small grove of rose red. Makes me smile every season. And then there is the last hurrah of a Rutgers hybrid dogwood with large white bracts the whole tree looking like a colony of white butterflies held in a moment.Dogwood time is a special time indeed.
ReplyDeletehome before dark ~ It is so hard to imagine the kind of heat you are describing! It is still chilly, but the longer days are welcome.
DeleteI am not all surprised to read you had such an interesting great grandmother...only that she was Cherokee! Surely she passed on many gifts and talents to you. That's a conversation I would love to pursue! How lovely you have planted a Dogwood tree in her memory.
What a perfect tree to stand guarding the final resting place of one's ancestors.
ReplyDeleteDedicated like that of a dog protecting her mistress in the present time...
Susan x
Hello Susan! Finding the graves on that lovely spring day was deeply moving and the nearby Dogwood was unforgettably poignant. I love your analogy! Thank you!
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