Flowering Dogwood

Cornus florida

Flowering dogwood is the spring event in eastern North America. The white or pink bracts open in late April. not petals but modified leaves surrounding tiny true flowers at the center. and the effect is cloud-like, horizontal, layered. Under a canopy of taller trees it glows. In morning light it almost vibrates. This is the tree that stops traffic in April, the one people move houses to have in their yard. Red berries ripen in fall and are taken within days by migrating thrushes, bluebirds, and waxwings. The horizontal branching structure is distinctive year-round and one of the finest winter silhouettes in the native tree palette. This is the quintessential eastern understory tree. beautiful in every season, deeply woven into the ecology and the culture of the region.