Dogwood

This morning we were heading home from Skating practice and I really needed to get some fuel for the Van. We were driving to the Village at Lake Arrowhead and I notice a lot of trees that had white flowers on them. So we stopped on the way back and sure enough the trees were Dogwood Trees. In BC these flowers are the Provincial Flower and you can not pick them or cut the tree down. It is on the list of British Columbia plants protected by law and it is a punishable offence to pick or destroy them.
The Pacific Dogwood (Cornus Nauttallii) was adopted as British Columbia's floral emblem in 1956. It is a small tree that grows 6 to 8 metres (20 to 30 feet) in height. Leaves are dark green on the upper side, lighter on the underside and the blooms appear from April to June and sometimes again in the fall. 30-40 small cream to greenish flowers are arranged in clusters and are surrounded by four to six large pointed, petal-like bracts.
Early legend portrays the Dogwood as being the wood of the Cross-of Calvary; the flower petals from the Cross, the centre the Crown of Thorns and the red tips of the petals the Blood of Christ.
So the cool thing about this is that my Grand-parents had a Dogwood in there front yard and one year my dad took a photo of my Grand-parents infront of it. The photo turned out so well that my mom had it enlarged and put on our living room wall. It is like a picture in time that always stood still for me. My Grandparents have past on but the picture stays with me and the Dogwood is a reminder to me of the times I spent with them and play in their yard. So thank you nature for the Dogwood and all its memories that it holds for me.