Virginia Facts and Trivia

• Proclaimed Virginia’s state flower in 1918
• Botanical title: Cornus florida
• Common brands: Boxwood
• American Dogwood trivia: puppies suffering from mange were treated using a wash produced by boiling the dogwood’s bark, therefore the tree’s name

Couple of says can claim their particular condition rose ended up being a popular of just one of American’s founding fathers; Virginia can. Thomas Jefferson grew the American dogwood on the grounds of his Virginia estate Monticello in 1770s.

It was this link with Virginia’s history that condition lawmakers without doubt had at heart once they picked the American dogwood because the Virginia state rose in 1918. Legislators hoped the selection would “stimulate a pastime inside record and customs of Commonwealth.”

Despite the subject bestowed upon it, Virginia’s state flower is really a tree. Actually, Virginia could be the just state to have the exact same condition flower and state tree. At its complete development, the dogwood can attain 30-40 legs high. Its trunk is included in a block-like bark that helps to distinguish the dogwood from other woods when it's not in bloom.

picture by Forest Wander

When the dogwood blooms in springtime, it's hard to miss. Its wonderful showy flowers emerge in white, green or purple. They are really not plants, but bracts that attract pollinators toward the tree’s real flowers. The dogwood’s true blooms are tiny, yellow plants that develop in a cluster at center of bracts. When pollinated, the fertilized ovaries at center of the plants create oval green fruit.

While it delights in springtime, Virginia’s state rose (and tree) is splendid all year round, and that's why the tree is outlines roads and graces yards across the state, from Arlington to Norfolk. Blossoms from dogwood vanish in summer leaving a nice-looking dark-green behind. In autumn, the dogwood’s renders offer a dazzling show of color in red, orange and scarlet, as well as its fruits are a colorful purple. Even in cold weather, the dogwood’s buds give the tree a classy silhouette.

While its attractive nature makes the dogwood a top option for Virginia’s gardeners, Virginians honor the tree various other ways also, the dogwood title appears through the entire condition, from Dogwood Harbor in Chesapeake to Dogwood Street in Virginia seashore. No doubt Thomas Jefferson would approve!