A Dogwood for Arbor Day

I love the springtime, but lately it has fostered jealous feelings as I enter my own neighborhood and find myself admiring the beautiful Flowering Dogwoods with white and pink blossoms that seem to adorn every lawn but mine.

No longer. Today we planted our own Dogwood, which is doubly appropriate being that it is Virginia’s State Tree, and since Friday was Arbor Day. On the way home from the nursery I asked my wife why it’s taken us 15 years to get ourselves a Dogwood tree. She responded that we had different priorities previously, and I regretted our late start in adding such a beautiful complement to our home.

Last fall a young man in his 20’s walked up our driveway. He told us he had grown up in our home (it was built in 1982, we became the third owners in 1990) and asked if we minded if he looked around. We invited him in for a tour, and he shared some nice memories. The best came outside, when he looked at the large pine tree that towers over our house. He looked up at it and said “That was our Christmas Tree for our first Christmas in this house”. I loved learning that. No longer just a source of messy needles, I have gained a new appreciation for that tree.

I hope that someday many years from now, if my kids every return to visit this house, they recall that the beautiful large dogwood was something we gave to our house in 2005. Arbor Day has passed, but don’t wait until next year. Plant a tree today.

For more info: National Arbor Day Foundation