Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) in the very early stages of floral bloom, back on April 10th. Those little pale green nubs at the center are the buds of the Dogwood flowers. Those four even paler green items extending out from the buds – items that we most often think of as petals are actually bracts.

Buds form on Flowering Dogwood trees in the autumn and need protection from the harsh winter. Those bracts protect the fragile flower buds as snow and ice do their thing.

After months of being inconspicuous, the bracts finally open in early April here in central Virginia. Those flowers are still buds though, like the picture at the top of this post. Two or three weeks later that cluster of buds (those tiny flowers in the center) open. The many flowers each have four petals opening and curling to reveal a single pistil with four stamens covered in pollen. Soon to become the red berries (drupes) that become the look of autumn.

Flowering Dogwood, beautiful in every season

_______________________________________________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!