Solitary Dogwood Bloom

There is a story behind this bloom. Growing up in Virgina, one becomes accustomed to the sping blooming of the dogwoods, as it is our Commonwealth's... more

by Teresa Mucha

Title

Solitary Dogwood Bloom

Artist

Teresa Mucha

Medium

Photograph

Description

There is a story behind this bloom. Growing up in Virgina, one becomes accustomed to the sping blooming of the dogwoods, as it is our Commonwealth's state flower. I have always loved to see the dogwood's in bloom and was thrilled when we moved to a neighborhood with many established, mature dogwoods. Every spring, the ones in my neighbor's yards would bloom with profusion. A benefit of having well established dogwoods and an abundance of feathered friends is having baby dogwoods pop up in your yard. Dogwoods can be prolific multipliers. So, every spring, we pull up the unwanted babes, unless they happen to sprout in an area of the yard where they were meant to live, such as this gem. I have about six dogwoods that my husband and I have nurtured and watched grow for the last ten years or so. Every spring I anxiously await the blooming time, to see if my babes will blossom. Every year, I realize I will have to wait another year to see if they will bloom. Well, this year, one of my babes surprised me and has one solitary bloom. I have been waiting for about three weeks, watching the bud open and the petals separate. In those three weeks, we have had freak thunderstorms, tornado warnings, you name it. I was very afraid that the weather would take it's toll on my single bud. But, God is smiling down on me. Today I awoke to a damp, foggy and cold morning. After spending time weeding and planting a few herbs, the sun came out. And this is the resulting picture of my beautiful, solitary dogwood bloom. The petals are tinged with pink, and I don't know if this is just a fluke or if I will have pinkish blossoms in the future. But I have this image to prove that one of my babes can make me so excited, the kind of excitement that only gardener's understand when the fruits of their labor are realized. I still have the other dogwoods that I will have to wait another year on, but I am thankful that I was able to enjoy the one, single, solitary bloom this year.

Uploaded

April 10th, 2011