Dang! let's try that again!

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That's more like it!

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I agree they look great now and are generally underrated. Around here they gave a really good show last year too. It's a plant that I really want to like - Pity they don't look this good most of the time or I'd certainly want a bunch of them in my garden.

Yes, the problem with it is as an ornamental is the plumes go brown and then stay on the shrub. Not saying it isn't true but also have not noticed an exceptional bloom on these this year (nor last year) myself, unlike with Cornus florida which some years ago was often looking as poor as C. nuttallii in local plantings - to become smothered with flowers by this year. As with camellias the flower buds are set the previous year, for a good bloom to be weather-related it would be due to the weather the previous summer. Winter conditions would affect the amount of bloom in spring or summer only by reducing the number of surviving flower buds, during a hard winter.

Thanks for the great pictures, reg. So that's what those shrubs are! As a recent transplant to this area, I noticed them blooming, and wondered. They are very pretty.

Due to the vogue for natives one of those shrubs fairly easily found at independent outlets.

My backyard is full of ocean spray and I love it. Yes, the plumes go brown, but they also attract birds -- especially those cutesy little bushtits. A flock of them will land, hunting for insects I assume, and the bushes seem to come to life. Wonderful plant.