The Legend of the Dogwood

According to legend, Jesus cursed the dogwood tree so that never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent and twisted and its blooms shall be in the form of a cross, two long and two short petals. In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns, so that all who see it will remember……..

I love to see the blooms of the dogwood trees in the spring. We have one in our front yard and one in our backyard.

We used to have two in our front yard at one time. I don’t remember what happened to the second one, but I remember that it needed to be removed. So I told my Dad and he brought his chainsaw over and did the normal ritual that I grew up with to get it ready so that he could remove this tree. He had to sharpen the blades, add oil and gas. We walk up in the front yard to the tree and he studies the tree and then reaches out and just pushes it over. He asked me had I not thought to do that. I said well I don’t normally make it a habit to just walk up to trees and see if I could just PUSH them over. I guess that it what years and years of tree work does for you.

I love the beauty of the dogwood blooms.