Kousa Dogwood

The kousas bloom about a month later than the flowering dogwoods.

On May 12th, the bracts on the kousa dogwoods had just started to grow...

They kept growing...

until the flowers finally bloomed. This was taken on June 4th.

But the show wasn't over: before the bracts fell off, they turned pink! From start to finish, the bracts last for about 5 or 6 weeks (which makes for a very long "flowering" time).

Here's a kousa in winter. You can see the vibrant fall color and exfoliating bark in the previous kousa post.

Dogwood

Here's the first dogwood (Cornus florida) flower that I saw this spring. Flower bud, I should say. What look like petals here are actually bracts, modified leaves. The inconspicuous flowers come out of the green buds in the center.

The flowering dogwood is native to the eastern United States and Mexico. Here's a white flowering dogwood with fully grown bracts.

This pink dogwood is in bloom. Notice the tiny yellow flowers in the center.

Cornus florida has a reputation for becoming gnarly and mangled as it matures.

Here's a flowering dogwood in the early fall.

The clusters of fruit ripen by late summer or early fall.

The flowering dogwood is one of my favorite trees in winter. I love the way the twigs hold the snow.

Kousa Dogwood

This kousa was glowing a couple days ago. I recently went back and all of the leaves had been dropped. Things are changing so quickly these days...

A mature kousa can be recognized at any time of year by the bark. It exfoliates in small round pieces,

...creating a multi-colored trunk.

Dogwood

There are about 10 genera in the Dogwood family, and between 45 and 65 species (depends on which taxonomist you consult). The flowers (well, actually the bracts ) and fruit are useful in identifying the type, but since that time has passed, I'm missing some clues. My guess is Cornus florida.

These leaves should be changing to red in a month or two...