U.S. #5558
2021 55¢ Garden Beauty – Flowering Dogwood
Issue Date: February 23, 2021
First Day City: Bloomfield, IN
Type of Stamp: Definitive
Printed by: Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Booklet of 20
Self-Adhesive
Quantity Printed: 600,000,000
The flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), is a beautiful tree native to eastern North America and northern Mexico. It is a popular choice in landscaping due to its striking blooms that appear every spring.
Flowering dogwoods are fairly small trees, usually only 15-30 feet tall when fully grown. Most trees live approximately 80 years, blooming annually in late April or early May. Wild dogwoods usually have white flowers, while cultivate varieties are known in white, pink, or even red. When teh flowers wither, they are replaced by clusters of up to ten "drupes" (small red or yellow berries) that ripen in the fall.
When planting flowering dogwood trees in your garden, keep in mind that they prefer moist, acidic soil. They should also be planted in an area with plenty of morning sun but afternoon shade. They can be difficult plants to keep happy as they are quite sensitive to pests and disease. Dead wood and leaves must be removed yearly to help prevent these from afflicting the tree.
In 1912, Japan gave America some cherry blossom trees as a show of friendship. Three years later, the US responded in kind with flowering dogwoods. Sadly, most of the original dogwood trees in Japan did not survive. In 2012, the US sent 3,000 new saplings to Japan in honor of the first gift's 100th anniversary.