Oh, duh! It's a dogwood tree!

It occurred to me after writing about the funky seed pods on the tree at Trader Joe's that I had taken pictures of trees there before (they're just fascinating!). I found these pictures from May:

Turns out those are dogwood trees... the state flower and tree of Virginia! I find it amusing that these pretty flowers turn into a big ol' pokey looking seed ball. I never would have guessed that if I hadn't put two and two together from these past pictures. I'm sure this is super common knowledge to a ton of people, but for me, learning about the simple things in nature still brings me so much happiness and wonder with every light-bulb moment that occurs.

“Gardening is an active participation in the deepest mysteries of the universe.” ~ Thomas Berry