Dogwood Tree Information
The American Dogwood

Photo: Line1

Dog Wood Tree
A Favorite Tree of America

by Patrick Malcolm

The State of Virginia has adopted the flowering dogwoods as its State tree, and many cities in America have named themselves 'The Dogwood City.' Atlanta, Georgia holds a spring festival every April to coincide with the flowering of the of the dogwoods in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Dogwood Festival has continued for 70 years, successfully attracting visitors for events such as outdoor musical extravaganzas in Piedmont Park and the attraction of many artists to display and sell to those visitors who wish to buy pottery, sculpture, oil paintings, and photographs.

History of Dogwoods

Flowering dogwood trees, Cornus florida, were discovered in the South by William Bartram in 1773; these trees were beautifully described in his exploratory book, Travels (page 399). Near Mobile, Alabama. Bartram encountered a grove of dog wood trees that aggressively covered an area 9 miles long.

The dogwoods were growing so thick that sunlight was practically excluded, and almost all other plant life was excluded except for an occasional white flowering Magnolia grandiflora. The land on which the white flowering dogwoods grew was level soil that was loose with a humid black organic mould on the surface with dog wood roots growing into a stiff yellowish clay.

The limbs of the flowering dogwoods were interlocking and spread horizontally at a tree height of 12 feet. The vast interlocking limbs of the trees covered the entire area as a shade tree that cooled the camping area used by William Bartram. After exploring for another seventy miles, Bartram wrote "spacious groves of this fine flowering tree, which must, in the spring season, when covered with blossoms, present a most pleasing scene; when at the same time a variety of other sweet shrubs display their beauty.

The white flowering Cornus florida is a native tree to the forests of America and has been exported worldwide as a seedling, also as a grafted white dogwood and flowering in pink or red. The pink flowering dogwood is available to buy as a seed grown tree, but the most desirable, stable, predictable pink dogwoods are nursery grafted trees. Red flowering dogwoods are not available as seedling trees, but as grafted cultivars, such as the Cherokee Chief, a red flowering dogwood.

Photo: Zevotron

The american dogwood tree, Cornus florida, is very adaptable in America, ranging from Massachusetts to Florida, and the tree is generally grown as an understory tree 12-15 feet tall, although some old specimens of 40 feet tall are recorded.

The flowering of dogwoods begins in early spring and the blossoms last 2 to 3 weeks. Oval berries of bright red are formed following the blooms and persist on the trees into fall and winter after leaves are shed, and until they are eaten by wildlife and birds. In the fall the dogwoods are covered in brilliant red leaves that change to purple.

Photo: Susan E Adams

The fallen leaves are very fragile and usually easily deteriorate without raking. Flowering dogwood trees will grow well underneath oak tree shade as well as under pine trees, but they will grow remarkably well in full sun. Dogwoods are well adapted to stress and are very tolerant of dry weather. These trees are tolerant of cold weather, and thrive in USDA zones 5 through 9.

Every landscape gardener appreciates the spring blooms of the white flowering dogwood shrubs as a background companion tree for flowering redbud trees or in a combination of flowering azalea shrubs in colors of red, pink, purple, or white.

Dogwoods can be propagated by growing from the seed or by rooting the cutting, but the best cultivars are grown from grafted trees. The Cloud Nine, flowering, white dog wood tree produces very large (hand-size) blooms, especially in the juvenile stage. The Weaver's Select, white, flowering dogwood tree is grafted and can produce a flower 6 inches wide.

The Legend Of The Dogwood Tree

The dog wood tree has been rumored to have been the wood from which the crucifixion cross of Jesus Christ was made in the year 33 AD. This rumor is ridiculous in several respects: first, there is not Biblical record of these trees in the Scriptures of the Old Testament Bible or the New Testament.

Most plant references in the Bible are very vague except for a few references to the date palm tree, olive tree, pomegranate trees, fig tree, and grape vines. The identity of those plants and trees is obvious, because of their fruits that are produced, but accurate plant identity could not be done easily until Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish physician, suggested rules on naming plants in the early 1700's.

There are many species of dogwoods and shrubs, but it is unlikely that any of the Mideastern species of dogwoods grew trunks large enough to shape into a crucifixion cross. The wood of the dogwood tree is so hard and dense that nails driven into the wood would split the wood. That tree definitely could not have been the North American dogwood tree, Cornus florida, since that tree did not grow in Israel at the time of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the reason for the rumor is that the dogwood tree was the wood of the crucifixion cross is the fact that the four white bracts (flower) are shaped like a cross. This resemblance of a white cross-shaped flower occurs in innumerable species of flowers of trees and, of course, should not be given any weight of evidence of the dogwood tree wood being the substance of crucifixions by the Jewish High Priest and the Roman rulers.

Learn more about various plants, or purchase ones mentioned in this article by visiting the author's website: http://www.tytyga.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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