The Weird Dogwood

Yes there is a strange dogwood in our yard.  I would have had it cut down as it has dieback on one major limb and is past its prime, but having seen it flower I knew it was something special so it was spared from the saw.  In fact I had some nearby hemlock branches cut so it could get more sun, and I do water it when it gets too dry, as was often the case last summer.

 The flowers don't quite open, and most closely resemble a subspecies of Cornus florida that occurs in Mexico, ssp urbiniana.  Yet I find it hard to believe the previous owners would have gotten their hands on this much sought after subspecies.  They did like pretty bushes and planted a lot of azaleas and rhododendrons, most of which remain, along with forsythia, lilacs, andromeda, and other common shrubs, some of which I have eliminated or reduced. But if this dogwood is not urbiniana it must be a mutant which coincidentally results in the same caged flower appearance as ssp urbiniana. It is attractive in a different sort of way, and I am trying to propagate it.  Cuttings that I took and also brought to NYBG failed, so I am trying to ground layer it.  I also have pots of seedlings coming along but as dogwoods are self sterile from what I read, I assume the seedlings have a regular dogwood father.  What I don't know is if the caged flower trait is dominant or not, so I won't know what the offspring will look like until they bloom, which could be a long time.

The tree has been making more flowers since I had the hemlock branches in front of it removed.   I still need to remove a dead limb from the tree, but overall I think it is liking the renewed attention it is getting since we got here

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Many flowers eventually open but never flatten out like normal dogwoods, and all the bracts have that odd keel or fold in their middle.

Odd indeed but I like it.