Greetings!

This year's cloned dogwood (Cornus florida 'Appalachian Spring') and native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) campaign has come to a close. Thank you for your contributions to this important effort!

Your observations added another year to the cloned plant dataset that began in the 1950s. This dataset has been used in a variety of research to determine the role of genes and environmental factors in the timing of leaves, flowers, colored leaves, leaf fall, and more.

We hope you will all join us again next year to continue to build on this long-term effort!

Photo Credit: Annkatrin Rose via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)

What you are reporting so far this year

This year, 288 observers reported on dogwoods at 101 sites. The map below shows the locations reporting on open flowers in cloned dogwoods (Appalachian Spring, triangles) and flowering dogwoods (squares) this year. The color of the icon represents the timing of open flowers, with darker blue colors indicating reports starting in February, and lighter colors in June. You can explore this visualization here.

There were 28 Local Phenology Programs (LPPs) tracking dogwoods this year. The 10 LPPs who contributed the most data are listed below. We also had 49 backyard observers submit observations this year. Thanks to all of our dogwood observers for your efforts!

Let's take a look at your observations of flowering dogwood, the more commonly observed of our two dogwoods as part of this campaign. Your reports of breaking leaf buds in flowering dogwoods have been remarkably consistent since 2019, and this year is no exception. Breaking leaf buds once again peaked in mid-April. You can explore this visualization here.

Over the past six years, the timing of the peak in open flowers has ranged from early April to mid-May. This year's peak occurred in early April. You can explore this visualization here.

Contact

Erin Posthumus

erin@usanpn.org

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McKinsey Tighe

mckinsey@usanpn.org

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