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Facts About White Dogwood Trees

By Venice Kichura, eHow Contributor
updated: April 20, 2010
Blooming white dogwood tree
Blooming white dogwood tree
blooming dogwood tree image by Jorge Moro from Fotolia.com

The appearance of white dogwoods blooming is a sure sign of spring, as these trees are among the first to bloom. This stunning tree is considered to be the queen of native flowering trees and is one of the showiest of all native trees. They're popular ornamental landscape trees and are often used as background trees against evergreens. Because their white blossoms provide such exceptional beauty, the white flowering dogwood is the "aristocrat" of other flowering trees, according to About Dogwood.com.

    Identification

  1. The white dogwood tree (Cornus florida) is also known as a dogwood or flowering dogwood. It has low branching and spreads out horizontally. The tree's showy white flower bracts, which are modified leaves, are often mistaken for flower petals. The leaves of a flowering dogwood are opposite one another and are egg-shaped or oval, with leaf veins running parallel to the leaf margins.

    2. Size

  2. White dogwoods are small trees with the average size being only about 15 feet tall, according to Floridata.com. This tree is wider than it is tall, spreading out to 15 to 20 feet in diameter. It has a full-rounded crown and a short trunk. The tree's horizontal branches usually grow in layered tiers.

    3. Geography

  3. The white dogwood tree is native to the United States and typically grows in the East from Massachusetts to Central Florida. These trees grow as far west as East Texas and are also found from Ontario to Michigan. White flowering dogwood trees are usually found growing in wooded slopes, bluffs, ravines, thickets, ridges and in acid soils.

    4. Time Frame

  4. The tree's attractive white flowers open in May, unfolding from winter buds. The flowers remain showy for about two to three weeks. Fruit from the tree, which mature between September and November, are bright scarlet berries, shaped like footballs, that usually remain on white dogwoods until winter.

    5. Considerations

  5. Poor soil preparation causes slow growth. For optimal growth a planting hole should be wide with backfill soil that's well worked. These trees thrive in acid soil that's well-drained with plenty of organic matter. White dogwoods need partial shade to sun for optimum growing and flowering. Sufficient summer water is needed for the white dogwood to maintain a moist environment.

    6. Warnings

  6. The berries of the tree are often consumed by squirrels, birds and other pests before maturing.
    The seed of a dogwood tree has an exceptionally hard outer coating so it needs to be stratified or pretreated before it's able to germinate. This allows the outer coating to soften so oxygen and water can enter to start the germination process.
    When leaves of a white dogwood appear small, it's often caused by a root problem due to root injury or from pathogens.
    The berries of the tree are often consumed by squirrels, birds and other pests before maturing.





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Photo Credit

blooming dogwood tree image by Jorge Moro from Fotolia.com

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