We built our house in 2001 and moved in the week of 9/11/2001... (I know... easy/hard date to remember.) Of course, a few trees had to come down in the building process, but we wanted to save as many as possible.
The builder said, "There's a scraggly tree in the back that got pretty scuffed up. We can take it down or you can wait and see if it survives. It might it a year or so." We decided to leave it. What a treat that next spring to discover that it was a dogwood! Even being scruffy and scuffed up, it did survive!
For two decades our little backyard dogwood blessed us with beautiful white blossoms in early spring, a ground-covering snow shower of white petals in late spring, shade in the summer, red leaves in the fall, and cardinals at the feeder in winter.
Every winter we wondered if it would make it another year.
When spring of 2022 came, there was something different...
No tiny green leaves... no white blossoms...
Our scruffy little dogwood tree had finally given up.
My weekly-ish challenge this time was "Yellow & White." That was a good opportunity to paint this sweet image of a yellow swallowtail on some white dogwood blossoms.
Original Oil Painting on 6"x 8" Wrapped Canvas
Click Butterfly on Dogwood if you'd like to purchase this little painting.
What a pretty little tree, but sad that it didn't survive. Will you plant another? Always fun to see your work, too!
ReplyDeleteI like to think that it did survive... 20 more seasons... until it just finished. I don't know if we'll plant another. I've always wanted a pink dogwood!
DeleteWhat a lovely post and tribute to that scruffy little tree. I've always loved dogwood, and that was a nice one. What a beautiful painting!
ReplyDeleteThanks. We do still have many dogwoods to enjoy on our property. That one was just a stand-alone beauty.
DeleteSuch a lovely tree. It gave you its best for 20 years. Your painting will be such a beautiful reminder of its glory.
ReplyDeleteYeah, lovely is a good word for it. We feel so lucky to live in the middle of so many different kinds of trees.
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