Sandplum,

I would say they are Dogwoods as they are blooming here now you can see them around usually along small creek branches and gullies along the highways.

Dogwoods are blooming in Adair Co now so I think dogwood as well. The only other thing blooming white now is wild plums and the flowers are much smaller.

I love dogwoods. My parents lost two big ones at our old house to beavers, of all things. In the middle of the city. They moved into a neighbor's pond. Also had a single swan and a big white duck who had an identity disorder and thought he was a swan. Even craned his neck to look like it.

Does this look familiar? The only thing I can bring up by a generic description is "dogwood", but this is a shrub that grows through canes. Then, I came here and saw this post about id and dogwoods

I think I found it: Vanhoutte spirea (S. x vanhouttei) (bridal wreath)

I would say the picture that started this thread is dogwood. I grew up in the Ozarks of Missouri where the woods are full of them. They are under story trees that have limb tips that turn up and look as though they are growing in layers... for lack of a better term to describe them.

Not sure about the second picture. It does resemble Vanhoutte spirea , but to me the individual flowers look a bit large. The one I had seemed to have more flowers in a cluster, but smaller... very similar, though.

Sorry to butt in on your forum, but have been reading for a while. I moved away from Oklahoma about 35 years ago and am now trying to remember how to garden here.

butt away mil All are welcome. And welcome home. Many of us are long term residents or native and still trying to figure out how to garden here. LOL

We uncovered this bush by removing a front porch and debris. It is enjoying its first full sunlight in 20 years.

bon

Thanks chickencoup. I am in Stephens County, so it should be zone 7b on my sign-in. I think it helps to answer questions if you know the general location of the person's garden.

Back to dogwoods. Thirty five years ago we moved onto some acreage West of Branson, MO., on Table Rock Lake. The property had not been lived on for 40 years... what a tangle of brush, green briar, grapevines, and trees. Clearing out of undesirables was a real chore. In the process we cut out a very large red cedar and left this poor scraggly thing that had grown up through it. This was our first winter... two springs later the ugly duckling bloomed. We didn't have the heart to remove it after all it had been through just to survive. Kind of silly since the woods are full of them up there and we were surrounded by National Forest.

Flowers should be 2 - 21/2 inches wide with a roundish notch in the outside edge of the petals (actually bracts). Some take on a faint pinkish hue. The leaves will be starting to open by the time it finishes it's bloom. This fall there should be red seed berries.

Sandplum, not sure how this forum works, but yes, I do believe your picture is dogwood. Dogwood trees look like they are branching out in layers with the tips of the branches tilted upward. Your wooded area looks good for dogwood. They grow as an understory tree, but are happiest under very tall older hardwoods where they can get some sunlight filtering through.

I really think the woods look pretty when the Dogwoods are in bloom. It sort of dresses up the woods.

Had prom Friday, but I crawled down the creek bank yesterday, lol.

Sandplum, that last pic confirms it. Not sure, but the bottom pic looks like there may be some seedling dogwoods coming up under it. Leaves look right, but would have to compare when you have leaves on the big one. I have moved them in late Feb. by taking a bucket of water along to put them in once dug.

By the way I went on a field trip to a wholesale nursery near Tahlequah many years ago. They were growing dogwoods from seed collected by locals for the nursery retailers, so you get the same thing if you buy a white one. If you want to try growing your own from seed, do a search on germinating dogwood seed... it's fairly complicated, but doable.

I don't know if I'm capable or patient enough to grow them from seed, but I'd sure like to grow one! I was thinking about tying a ribbon around one of the babies and trying to transplant October-November. I'd have done it in February, but couldn't remember which ones were "the chosen ones."

Carol