Photo by Ruby Jung.All rights reserved.

Dogwoods

When the Dogwoods bloom you know spring is finally starting in earnest. These small understory trees are one of the most striking (and easily seen) floral displays of the early spring. Our region is home to at least ten species with the Common Dogwood (Cornus florida) probably the most frequently encountered.

Dogwoods were once ransacked for their budded branches. Home floral arrangers would whack off budded limbs from wild stands and force them indoors for pretty flower arrangements. Happily this short-sighted abuse of the plant has ceased since numerous states passed laws outlawing the practice.

Dogwood Anthracnose

Dogwoods are now one of the most popular landscape trees in America. Their spectacular spring flowering, their compact and well-behaved habit of growth and their broad tolerance of different habitats makes them ideal plants for suburbia. Numerous cultivars of several species as well as several hybrid varieties give the home gardener a broad selection. Unfortunately this zeal to hybridize has resulted in the introduction of a new fungal disease - Dogwood Anthracnose - from Asia - a disease our native varieties succumb to easily. Carefully timed spraying with antifungal compounds can protect landscape plantings but they must be applied each spring and timing is critical for success. Fortunately the wild Dogwoods seem to be largely unaffected by the disease. Apparently Dogwoods growing where they want to grow are better able to resist this disease than their more pampered and unnaturally placed cultivated brethren.

Usefulness of Dogwood wood

Apart from their attractiveness while flowering and the berries resulting from fertilization of those flowers the only commercial use for Dogwood as a timber resource has been as shuttles for looms. The wood of the Dogwood is tight, dense, shock-resistant and heavy - even after drying. And unlike nearly all other woods a shuttle made from the heartwood of Dogwood grows smoother and silkier the more it is used. At one time Dogwood harvesting for the large cloth making factories of the south was a viable occupation.

Photo by Jim Jung. All rights reserved

Dogwood berries

Our Dogwoods which have been patiently nurturing their berries since their early spring blooming are ripening them now. Turning from green to bright red they're an important food source for migrating birds and more specifically Cardinals who incorporate the berries' red pigment into their feathers. Without Dogwood berries (and similar red fruits) our Cardinals would go from bright, startling red to drab brown in a matter of weeks.

Dogwood berries while bitter and unappetizing raw were apparently harvested by our aboriginal forebears (apparently) for food. Early explorers commented on this Indian use of Dogwood berries without including any recipes on how they were prepared so the secret is apparently lost. Should any readers out there have an adventurous culinary spirit you might try and unravel the mystery of making Dogwood berries palatable.

Cardinal

Photo Copyright © 2005 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

Offsite Links:

• Plants Database Dogwood Info Page
• National Arbor Day Foundation Flowering Dogwood page

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