While many of this spring's flowers seem to have gone by with lightning speed, cooler weather has made the dogwoods persist for a couple of weeks. My favorite of all dogwoods is the Mexican dogwood, Cornus florida var. urbiniana. The bracts adhere to each other throughout floral development, making a sort of canopy over the true flowers in the center. That makes them very interesting, but the blue cast to the leaves and superb resistance to anthracnose and powdery mildew and the ability to grow well in full sun make them good candidates for a broader range of landscape situations.
George Waters germinated some seeds from our tree in the Dogwood Collection and these are some of the progeny. Not much different from their mama, except perhaps for some that have a bit longer bracts and a hint of pink in some.
The sky in the last picture is not enhanced. It was really that blue. We've had unusually low humidity and clean air lately. You seldom see that shade of blue in Washington, DC skies. Rain is needed.
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