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Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
Commonly found in the forest understory or as a landscape ornamental, this high wildlife value native* with four-season interest is far from ordinary. This beauty serves as North Carolina state flower and Missouri state tree. In Virginia, it is both official floral and arboreal emblems. The Virginia Native Plant Society honored Flowering Dogwood as Wildflower of the Year in 2018.
*Common throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region except it is absent in the northernmost counties of PA and–despite its common name–in higher mountain elevations.
Do you know that an individual flower of Cornus florida is only about ¼-inch in diameter? The 2–2½-inch white or pink structures subtending a flower cluster are not petals but petaloid bracts.
Learn more about Cornus florida and petaloid bract…