Cornus kousa in Penlee Park
This will sadly be the last post following the Cornus kousa in Penlee Park. It’s been such a pleasure to follow this little tree in its lovely setting since last July.
Here is the tree last summer, compared with this July:
You can see there’s been a bit of growth from last year, but not very much. The only way I can tell it’s last year is because of the brown grassy plant behind last year’s tree, the one that looked like Dougal from The Magic Roundabout.
Towards the end of June, the pure white bracts began to have a flush of pink:
And there were loads of insects on the flowers:
They looked like some sort of hoverfly or small wasp. You can clearly see the stamens surrounding the small flowers grouped in the centre.
This year the flowers seem to have turned very pink.
As the bracts age they become browner, and have some quite subtle colours:
You can see the fruits beginning to form now.
The other Cornus kousa in the Memorial Gardens looks drab by comparison, the creamy bracts turning brownish with only a few having a glorious blush.
The young leaves on this one are bright green, and the fruits are already larger than the ones on the original tree. Most of the old leaves have dropped, with just a few yellowing ones, which blend in with the young shoots.
It’s harder to see the flowers and fruits (and photograph them) as they are high up in the branches.
The original tree also has fading flower bracts this month, now the insects have done their job of pollination.
So now it’s time to wait for the bright pinky-red fruit to develop again, and time to find another tree to follow for the next year. But which is it to be?
Perhaps this sumac in the Memorial Gardens, which is already looking quite interesting and colourful?
Watch this space!
Thanks to Pat as always for hosting us Tree Followers. To find out more, look here:
https://squirrelbasket.wordpress.com/tree-following/
Amblings around Penwith 
I love the cast shadow of the palm in the first photo, and had completely forgotten about Dougal, what happened to him, was he cut and removed. The bracts are very pretty, the way they cascade down it’s like a waterfall, looking forward to seeing your new tree next month, the sumac does look interesting. Frances
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Yes, poor dead Dougal was removed, and the area grassed over. The light through the trees and other plants is wonderful, and I agree, the shadows are always interesting and sometimes spectacular.
I’m quite sad to be leaving this lovely little tree now, but will still be passing it on my walk up to town. so will keep an eye on it, and maybe sneak an occasional photo of it in!
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Woo! What an amazing variation in colours and textures. I particularly like the pink picture with the fruits beginning to form.
I shall miss the dogwoods but that sumac looks a very interesting possibility!
See you next month.
All the best š
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Thanks, Pat. I shall miss the dogwoods too. I was thinking I might have a month or two off from tree following – then again, the sumac is getting colourful, so may not be able to resist! I don’t think I would have noticed it if it hadn’t been right next to the Other Dogwood.
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