Hi USA-NPN,

This year's cloned dogwood (Cornus florida 'Appalachian Spring') and native flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) campaign has come to a close. Thank you for your contributions to this important effort!

Your observations added another year to the cloned plant dataset that began in the 1950s. This dataset has been used in a variety of research to determine the extent to which spring is advancing, changes in spring can affect migratory birds and other wildlife, and future weather extremes could threaten public lands.

We hope you will all join us again next year to continue to build on this long-term effort!

Photo Credit: Dcrjsr via Wikimedia Commons

What you are reporting so far this year

This year, 372 observers reported on dogwoods at 122 sites. The map below shows the locations reporting on open flowers in cloned dogwoods (Appalachian Spring, triangles) and flowering dogwoods (circles) this year. The color of the icon represents the timing of open flowers, with lighter orange colors indicating reports starting in February, and darker colors in June.

There were 33 Local Phenology Programs (LPPs) tracking dogwoods this year. The 10 LPPs who contributed the most data are listed below. We also had 88 backyard observers submit observations this year. Thanks to all of our dogwood observers for your efforts!

Let's take a look at your observations of flowering dogwood, the more commonly observed of our two dogwoods as part of this campaign. In past years, the peak in your reports of breaking leaf buds in flowering dogwoods has ranged from mid-March to late April. This year was fairly average with a peak in mid-April.

Over the past six years, the timing of the peak in open flowers has ranged from early April to mid-May. In 2022, the peak occurred on the later side in mid-May.