Dogwood Trees

I am not a lazy person, but the hardest thing I do every day is get up. Yep, I’m the ultimate night owl! It takes a cup of strong coffee for me to get going in the morning, but if I can have a newspaper with the coffee I can usually manage to get off to a good start.

This morning’s local paper had an interesting article on dogwood trees. About 80% of all dogwoods cultivated in the US get their start in Tennessee nurseries. I don’t know why I was surprised because the dogwoods around here are beautiful and plentiful. They have become difficult to raise in recent years, however, because of a disease called anthracnose. It has gotten so discouraging to see the beautiful trees get sick and die that few people dare to plant them anymore. Thanks to a team of scientists specializing in plant pathology from the University of Tennessee, a disease resistant dogwood has been cultivated. These disease resistant trees will be available for purchase on July 8th at the UT Lawn and Garden Show held at the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Jackson, TN. One of the plant pathologists who led the research in developing the disease resistant trees is scheduled to be there to share information about dogwood care and maintenance. I plan to get some of those trees and I know exactly where I want to plant them!

Besides the beautiful blooms, the lovely canopy, and the striking fall foliage, dogwoods have another compelling feature. If they grow large enough, they are great “climbing” trees. I know this because I spent about half of my childhood in a tree. I couldn’t resist sharing this photo of some adorable little boys perched in one of the dogwood trees in front of our local library. The exact details of the event have escaped my memory, but we had something special for little boys during Summer Reading in ’09. Disney’s quote just seems to go with that photo.


There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island."
— Walt Disney

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