Enjoying Dogwood Blossoms with kids and learning a couple of things, too!

The Dogwood Blossom~ The Dogwood Blossom is said to symbolize durability because of the strength of the Dogwood Tree itself.  The Dogwood Tree has been used to manufacture bobbins, pestles, wheel spokes, butcher’s skewers, dowels, baseball bats, shingles, angler poles, toothpicks and cabinet work.

The most famous story of the Dogwood Blossom has Christian origins as a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ.  Legend has it that the Dogwood Tree was once as tall and stately as the mighty Oak and was used as the timber for Christ’s cross.  The Dogwood Tree was so distressed at the cruelty for which it was being used that Christ never again allowed a Dogwood Tree to grow large enough to be used for a cross.  Instead, the 4 petals of the Dogwood Blossom would forever represent the cross: the blossom center representing a crown of thorns, the tips of the petals representing nail marks and the red berries representing the blood of Christ.

According to Christian legend, the Dogwood Blossoms appear in Spring as a further representation of Christ at or around Eastertime.

There is another very interesting tidbit regarding the Dogwood Tree itself — that the tree is called a Dogwood because a concoction of its leaves was once used to wash dogs, ridding them of vermin and mange. Ah, ha!

Let your kids in on the secrets, stories and legends of the Dogwood Blossom and the Dogwood Tree.  Hold a Dogwood Blossom in your hands to see for yourselves if you think the Dogwood Blossom resembles a cross, crown of thorns and nail marks.

Talk with your kids about these stories and legends as you sit beneath the shade of a lovely Dogwood Tree. And perhaps wash your dog under that tree, too!

Nature is the best classroom.