Providing protection as the flowers are developing in late winter and early spring, what appear to be petals on blossoms of Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) are modified leaves called bracts.
The actual tiny flowers, in a shade of soft yellow green, are at the center of the four bracts, each one complete with stamens and pistils, the male and female parts of the flowers. And with the help of pollinators, will develop bright red berries in autumn.
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Despite the high winds that howled through the mountains a few days ago there are some Flowering Dogwoods (Cornus florida) that are clinging to the last of their crimson leaves.
Along with those leaves you can see buds that formed during the summer. Those buds will brave cold weather, ice storms and snow to bloom in spring.
I love being here with nature and four seasons to entertain me.
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A Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) lush with crimson drupes. Fewer today than there were just a week ago, since they are quite popular with countless birds. The leaves too, were brilliant in their color, then the wind came along this past Thursday and Friday, Halloween Day, blowing nearly all of the leaves away.
I notice a rhythm of production of berries, or drupes, on this Dogwood in particular since it is easy to see from the kitchen and dining room windows. The tree takes turns producing numerous berries one year and the next a meager number. This is normal for Flowering Dogwoods, but there are always environmental factors influencing this cycle.
Wondering how long the drupes will last. Robins (Turdus migratorius) that send out word to other Robins, when there is a particular abundance of their favorite foods, have already telegraphed word to their family and friends.
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The change from green to red started way back in late June. Most people don’t notice it. The change in leaf color is quite subtle but it really does start that early, many months before this climax.
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) now, showing off its reds. Scarlet berries and leaves so rich red they go beyond just red to a very deep crimson.
Two weeks more and these leaves will have fallen to the ground. Leaving the scarlet berries inviting birds to many meals.
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What a marvelous jigsaw puzzle this would make. Light shining through the changing leaves of a Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida).
Every year I notice as summer is just beginning, in late June, that the Dogwoods are just starting little by little to lose the green of their leaves. Ever so slowly getting a hint of red.
That slow change, green to red, happens as the chlorophyll which is used to convert sunlight to energy during photosynthesis, begins to break down. The loss of chlorophyll reveals the yellow and orange pigments that were already in the leaves.
Most of the year, these leaves are green because of the chlorophyll they use to absorb energy from sunlight during photosynthesis. The leaves convert the energy into sugars to feed the tree. Deep, rich red colors that are seen in Dogwoods and Oaks happen due to the sugars that can become trapped in the leaves. Those trapped sugars cause a chemical change which creates new pigments, anthocyanins, which produce red, purple, and blue colors.
Ah, nature. So complicated and so amazing.
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Patiently waiting for spring. Buds of Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) covered with icy snow.
Flowering Dogwood flowers are actually not what you think. What are thought to be petals are not petals at all, but are bracts. The flowers are yellow, very small, clustered at the center, surrounded by the bracts.
In late summer into autumn, buds are formed for the following spring’s flowers. That’s what you’re seeing in this photo, buds that were formed perhaps five months ago.
Patiently waiting for spring.
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Another day of thick fog, drizzle and rain. Another day of wet leaves that brighten the colors of the leaves and color the beginning of autumn.
There are well more than thirty — to nearly sixty — species of plants in the genus Cornus. Twelve of them are native to the United States and Canada.
This picture of course is the Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), the Dogwood that so many of us are familiar with. This one beginning to turn crimson while others might turn fiery orange or rich shades of purple or brilliant yellow. And those drupes, what a striking color.
Color means so much to me.
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