January 1, 2014: Dogwood Tree

 I am the sort of woman who has a bucket list of the trees I'd like to grow someday.  It's a long list and I will need acres of land to eventually fulfill this goal.  Until then, I enjoy all the trees in my care.  There's the enormous oak in my back yard, known to us as old man tree.  It’s the king of the backyard, because of its sheer size and majesty.

There are my dwarf fruit trees: two apples, a pear tree.

Last year, I added tiny peach tree to my collection.

There is a maple hidden in the darkest corner of the yard.

And there is my dogwood tree.

I see this dogwood every morning as it is directly outside the windows in both the kitchen pantry and the downstairs powder room.  The very first winter I lived in this house I made a picture of the dogwood in the winter snow; it remains one of my favorites pictures.

The tree has grown much taller over the years.  Because I see it every morning and I am the sort of woman to stop and admire her trees, the dogwood is my marker for the changing seasons.  From the dogwood, I will get my first evidence of spring and then fall, two seasons that I always eagerly anticipate.   Right now, on a cold January 1st, the dogwood is at rest for the winter.  I admire its graceful limbs and it's steady presence in the yard and I look forward to its changes in the seasons ahead, which I will share on the first of the month for 2014.