Thursday, March 27, 2014

The Legend of the Dogwood

The legend has it that Jesus Christ was crucified on a tall and sturdy dogwood tree.  This cruel event caused much distress for the dogwood tree and when our Lord noticed that, He promised that a dogwood tree would never again grow tall and sturdy for the purpose of a Crucifixion.

White Dogwood
Some years ago, my husband and I planted a small pink dogwood tree among tall pines.  Although it had fairly acidic soil in partial shade, it failed to grow and prosper.  We later learned that it is simply too hot for dogwoods, especially the pink dogwood, to thrive or even make it in Florida.  They may experience blight, mildew, crown rot, and canker.

The dogwoods are among the first to bloom in the spring and it is quite delightful to see a burst of white or pink among delicate deciduous trees along a road side.

There is a rather old, well established white dogwood tree growing in my neighborhood.  It is bent and gnarly with Spanish moss hanging down from its branches.

Each blossom of the dogwood, white or pink, has the form of a cross:  two long and two short petals.  The center of the outer edge of each petal has three small holes remindful of nail prints.

The top of the petals are rusty on one side and brown/red on the other.  It is not difficult to imagine that they represent the spikes that pierced the hands and feet or Our Lord on the Cross.

Finally, at the center of the flower, there is a green cluster reminiscent of the Crown of Thorns used at the Crucifixion.

At this time that is leading up to the Easter Holiday, make some time to reflect.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

2 comments:

  1. Had not heard this legend of the dogwood. Just in time for Easter! Visiting from A-Z list. Stop my blog for some 'yummy fruit' and a bit of fun :)
    http://shells-tales-sails.blogspot.com/

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  2. Thank you for visiting. I had a post card about this particular legend but couldn't find it. I am looking forward to visit you.

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