The Mid-South is in full spring bloom, and the mighty dogwoods are out, reaching for the sun and sky, busting for breath and life, outdoors.
In the middle of a quarantine, sounds like us.
The dogwood tree.
“There are many legends of the dogwood: some from modern times, some from ancient times, some funny, some of a religious nature, and some about where the name ‘dogwood’ originated.”
~The Dogwood Garden Club
The white blooms of the dogwood are not flowers, but are called bracts. Bracts bloom for about 10 days in spring, usually in April, unless spring arrives a little early, as it has this year.
Take a walk. Today. Enjoy the bract-bloom while you can.
Streetscapes
Like a mirage, they glisten in the distance, beckoning the weary or curious traveler.
They may appear as if in a fairy tale, or from a Thomas Kinkade painting, fronting friendly cottages.
Front Yards
The may surprise you. Alone. Or, they may hide in groups.
Left, Bottom: Southern Avenue, Buntyn. Right: Harbert at Rozelle, Central Gardens
Back Yards
One legend of the name “comes from the wood itself which is very hard, dense and rock-like when dry. The wood was used to make ‘dogs’ or ‘doggerwood’ – an Old English term meaning ‘a stick used to skewer meat'”
~The Dogwood Garden Club
The Cherokee believed that a tiny people lived amidst the Dogwoods and that this divine little race was sent to teach people to live in harmony with the woods.
~The Dogwood Garden Club
When One Photo Isn’t Enough
In Panorama
Dogwoods may be best seen cinematically, in full panorama. They may create landscapes of their very own, as snowy mountaintops or shady groves.
Photos taken in Midtown and East Memphis, March 31 – April 3, 2020. Photos by Mark Fleischer, Jan Shivley, Tamara Cook