They have a ferocious appetite in the spring like all flowering trees and should be show cased or planted away from other trees. Interestingly, the name dogwood tends to cover so many different kinds of shrubs and trees that it tends to confuse most tree lovers. From ankle high creepers, to waist high shrubs, to window high trees on up to the bigger trees in tall forest. The flowers on these trees come in several different designs with the effect coming out about the same on all trees. The leaves on each of the creepers, shrubs and trees are always the same though they vary in size.
Dogwood trees have two different flower patterns.
The common flowering dogwood, like most, appear to have flowers which are actually modified leaves called bracts. They usually protect the unopened flowers, which are tiny miniature clusters of flowers. What makes the dogwood tree so spectacular in spring has to do as much with how the tree grows as it does the flowers. Shooting out long branches sideways, every flower shows because they are held face up on the branch. One of the many varieties of the dogwood is the wild flowering dogwood which grows well in the eastern United States and sport either pink or white flowers.