And we have our state flower, the dogwood. In front of our barn we have the biggest dogwood tree I’ve ever seen. In spring it comes alive with white flowers, which I dearly love. After a short period, the flowers fall off and we are left with 50 weeks of green or brown tree but every time I see it, I see the flowers.
The dogwood is the tree that I can most readily identify, because if you ever cut one down my father would have your rear end before you could blink. Since I spent my fair share of time in the woods clearing areas for him, I learned quickly from experience (and a sore rear end) which trees were not to be touched either by the saw or by falling trees. You would think I wouldn’t like them having to be so careful around them growing up but the opposite is true. Left to my own devices, there would be nothing but dogwoods and azaleas planted everywhere on this farm.