Pink Dogwood

My 3 year old is begging me to plant a pink tree for her. So of course I will. In what way do these types of trees contribute to permaculture? I there a particular place I should plant them (next to)?

Thanks

Dogwood needs a shady spot, so put it in the understory. I have one growing on the north side of my shed, where it is under some oaks and pines.

What does it contribute? Not much besides the pretty pink blossoms. The red fruits are nasty and the chickens won't even touch them.

Thanks. Duly noted.

I would plant a redbud instead.....they have pink blooms in the spring......they also produce "peas" as fruit....the peas resemble snow peas and can be eaten as such.....plant in shade or sun.....also the flower buds are edible and can be put in salads.

Thanks. I'll check those out too.

How about the contribution to the permaculturist's mental health? And the improvement to the general ecology? Personally I find that flowers make me happier, more optimistic, and more satisfied with my life. They improve my general attitude and outlook in regard to my farming project. Flowers with their resultant fruits and seeds also help provide sustenance to the wildlife. It's a win-win situation at my place. Thus I plant lots of flowers!

...Su Ba
www.kaufarmer.blogspot.com

I hear you Su. Any recommendations.

The young leaves of the dogwood make a light and pleasant smoke. It has been used in traditional pipe-smoking mixtures by the Ojibway and probably other nations. I gather some whenever I am in the east for this purpose.

Always glad to see the Dogwood flowers bloom in the early spring, here in CT. After a long winter it's nice to see them.

Other pink trees include Japanese plum which have a reddish leaf. Some magnolias are pink. For year round flowering of something smaller that is more your daughter's size, try Indian Princess.

There are some pink cultivars of the Kousa Dogwood ('Miss Satomi' is a commonly available one). They bloom a bit later than the classic American Dogwood, but the fruits are edible. I've never tried them, but the internet says they are sweet but not really something to go out of your way for.

Kelby Taylor wrote:There are some pink cultivars of the Kousa Dogwood ('Miss Satomi' is a commonly available one). They bloom a bit later than the classic American Dogwood, but the fruits are edible. I've never tried them, but the internet says they are sweet but not really something to go out of your way for.

Now there can be quite a lot of variation in wild plants, but the dogwood fruits I have sampled were very astringent, as if they were chock-full of tannins. Then again, they were quite hard when I tried them, so maybe if and when they ripen and soften, they turn sweet. However, since the seed-to-pulp ratio is even worse than a crabapple, they aren't worth the trouble.

John Elliott wrote:

Kelby Taylor wrote:There are some pink cultivars of the Kousa Dogwood ('Miss Satomi' is a commonly available one). They bloom a bit later than the classic American Dogwood, but the fruits are edible. I've never tried them, but the internet says they are sweet but not really something to go out of your way for.

Now there can be quite a lot of variation in wild plants, but the dogwood fruits I have sampled were very astringent, as if they were chock-full of tannins. Then again, they were quite hard when I tried them, so maybe if and when they ripen and soften, they turn sweet. However, since the seed-to-pulp ratio is even worse than a crabapple, they aren't worth the trouble.

The Kousa Dogwood (also called Chinese dogwood) has a different fruit than the wild dogwood. Roughly strawberry sized and pinkish red, not the little red berries on the wild dogwood. Here's a short article on eating the fruit: http://www.eattheweeds.com/cornus-kousa-a-dog-gone-good-dogwood-2/

I just picked about 3lbs. of Kousa fruit. Not a lot to it but good for jellies/jams.

Thanks for all the replies. Very helpful. I think I may be leaning towards a Redbud which happen to be on sale at my local Lowes this weekend.