This has been a genuinely fine year for our native dogwoods. They started blooming about a week early and they've just kept going like gangbusters for the past couple of weeks in the cool, wet weather. The fact that we still have an abundance of Cornus florida shrubs in our woods is truly wonderful news since, about a decade ago, dire reports were surfacing throughout the Northeast and beyond about the emergence and flourishing of an imported fungus called Discula destructiva, or, in semi-plain English, Dogwood Anthracnose. Declines in the shrub's population were becoming obvious, and forestry experts were starting to worry about the Dogwood's possible demise. Thankfully, at least for now, those concerns seem a bit overblown. We still have Dogwoods in bloom, and they're just gorgeous. With any luck, they'll remain a treasured part of the woods.