1.06.2009

Dogwood Blooms


On the day after Christmas, I went into the back yard with a cup of coffee and a book. I have a special place in the yard that I just love. It's a glider, under a lattice awning covered with vines. It's one of the first things I fell in love with when I first looked at our house.
So, as soon as I sat down on my glider, I looked at the ground and saw two perfect dogwood blooms. They were just lying very nicely on the ground. The odd thing about that is....we don't have any dogwood trees. I knew we didn't, because I love them and I'd have noticed. But just in case, I checked the front yard, back yard, and the yards beside us. No dogwood trees. And even though we're in Florida, I doubt they'd be blooming right now anyway.
I still have no idea where these blooms came from, but considering it was the day after Christmas and knowing the Legend of the Dogwood, it was a very touching and interesting experience.

The Legend of the Dogwood
An old and beautiful legend has it that, at the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood was comparable in size to the oak tree and other monarchs of the forest. Because of its firmness and strength it was selected as the timber for the cross, but to be put to such a cruel use greatly distressed the tree. Sensing this, the crucified Jesus in his gentle pity for the sorrow and suffering of all said to it: "Because of your sorrow and pity for My sufferings, never again will the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a gibbet. Henceforth it will be slender, bent and twisted and its blossoms will be in the form of a cross -- two long and two short petals. In the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints -- brown with rust and stained with red -- and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see this will remember.

*Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Only 2 more days until the Royal Drawing.*

25 comments:

Danyele Easterhaus said...

dogwood are soooo pretty! thanks. we got snow today and a fresh little bloom was perfect!

GypsiAdventure said...

What a blessing and so pretty.
~K

Anonymous said...

beautiful, i can't believe you have flowers this time of year! i am so jealous, i have 3 feet of snow! ;)

tiarastantrums said...

very pretty and you are lucky you don't have snow and ice!

Jen - Queen of Poo said...

I had never heard the legend of the dogwood tree. How cool that you found those blossoms!

Heather said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heather said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heather said...

Three things...

1 - I have never heard that legend before, but it is really neat!

2 - Outdoor flowers of any sort at this time of year is so foreign to this Colorado girl

3 - How neat that these flowers just appeared for you, especially in the context that you knew of them

krissy said...

I'm jealous. I have snow and if I went outside I would freeze an appendage off.

Grrr. I wanna live in Florida. Whaaaa.

That Janie Girl said...

Yummmm. Sounds good, going outside and reading under a tree.

Aubrey said...

They are beautiful! What an amazing story!

Anonymous said...

That is such a cool experience. I wonder where they came from. I had not heard that legend before and I'm glad you shared it!

Susie said...

Wow!! That's beautiful! I hope you find that dogwood tree. Do you have room on your property to plant one?

Bad Momma said...

Happy New Year! Cool story. I am sooo jealous that you can retreat to your back yard with a cup of coffee. The weather is frigid here in Ohio!

Cathy said...

Good morning SITSta! I have never heard this before. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful story.

Unknown said...

That is so neat....I have never heard of that before either. Thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...

What a wonderful legend !!!

Great shot of the flowers as well..

debi9kids said...

Dogwoods are my favorite tree and sadly my two had to come down this last summer when we had work done on the yard :(
How interesting about the blossoms in your yard and what a lovely moment.

JEN said...

What a great story. I wish it was warm enough here to have flowers bloom.

Unknown said...

How wonderful! Such a great reminder of the reason for the season.

Frogs in my formula said...

What a beautiful surprise.

WheresMyAngels said...

I used to have the legend hanging on my wall, that was over 18 years ago. I had forgotten about it.

Anonymous said...

Sounds absolutely lovely.

April said...

So glad you came by!!! I absolutely love dogwoods and the story behind them. With this wildly warm weather we've been having, I expect them to start budding out anytime!

Scary Mommy said...

How beautiful!! Lovely post-- I'm jealous! :)