Why am I so excited that our Red Twig Dogwoods are blooming? Because these blooms are usually not a big deal each Spring, nor are the blooms the main reason why these shrubs are planted!Most people plant Red Twig Dogwoods for their Winter interest, as the stems — i.e. the red twigs — are such a brilliant color against the usually blah Winter landscape.

Here are some of our Red Twig Dogwoods as they looked back in January:

Some people will cut these twigs and use them in Winter or holiday arrangements. We like to leave them as is, because they provide such a welcome bit of color in our front gardens each Winter.

You can see how vibrant those red stems are:

Oh – and when it snows? The look of those red stems against the white snow is stunning!!

Usually, when you read about Red Twig Dogwoods, most of the talk is about their Winter Interest.

The rest of the year they are a great background shrub — my description — as they are filled with lush, green leaves, practically hiding those gorgeous red stems.

The Spring flowers — when mentioned — are never really ooh-ed and aah-ed over. It’s more like “this shrub has white flowers in Spring followed by small berries….” End of story.

And that’s how our shrubs were the first couple of years too…

…until this year!

Each one of our red twig dogwood shrubs looks like the one above! The flowers are very showy this year, and oh so pretty! (Definitely worthy of oohs and aahs!)

Close up, each flower head resembles Queen Anne’s Lace to me.

Need to see what Queen Anne’s Lace looks like? Check out this gorgeous arrangement of Queen Anne’s Lace in a blue mason jar from my friend Jennifer’s blog Town and Country Living:

(Click on the mason jar image above to visit Jennifer’s blog, filled with farmhouse goodness: decorating, recipes and DIY projects that I love. And you will too!)

Having our red twig dogwood shrubs covered in these elegant flowers has been such a nice surprise, and is yet another reason why I love to garden: you never know what Mother Nature is going to do from year to year!

Happy gardening!

~Laura