Pagoda Dogwood - Cornus alternifolia 2023 The flowers grow right on

The flowers grow right on the dark bark and evoke the image of a brilliant and bold umbrella

bright white petals surrounding golden cones erupt from the dense and compact stems for weeks on end in the heat of summer

The plant’s reddish-brown fruits are also showy and last into winter

Due to their astringency

Pagoda Dogwood - Cornus alternifolia 2023 The flowers grow right onThe Pagoda Dogwood is something of a paradox. While it sounds like it might be from the Far East, this spectacular small tree is actually an eastern US native found in nearly every county in Pennsylvania and is more corn rows and rock walls than rice fields and koi ponds. So how did it get such an evocative name? It turns out that the distinctly horizontal branches, which are attached to the trunk in neatly tiered layers, are reminiscent of the