My redtwig dogwood (Cornus sericea) is blooming. Again. This plant flowers in the spring and then produces clusters of white berries that the birds love. Dogwoods are not very drought tolerant and this particular plant is a "volunteer" that lives in the no-man's land deep inside back-to-back planting beds along the property line. You can see by the curled foliage that the plant is drought stressed. You can also see the under-formed and dessicated berries that tried to develop last spring.
Now here it is, flowering again, making another effort to reproduce. I'm curious. Did the extreme heat and drought of June and July force the plant into a false dormancy, tricking it into springtime behavior? I've seen this before, but never to such a large extent — usually just a random blossom or two (in fact, my quince, Chaenomeles spp) is doing that right now).
And it's not just my dogwood: if you want to see something really crazy, head over to Timberline Gardens and take a look at their wisteria that's covered in (off season) purple flowers!
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