Where is The Largest Recorded Flowering Dogwood in Texas Found?

East Texas is known for one of the most beautiful trees found in The Lone Star State, dogwoods. They are a sight to behold.

Did you know the largest flowering dogwood is found right here in East Texas?

Trees started from seed take longer to bloom than those started as cuttings from older trees. The cuttings are clones so their cells are more mature and typically might bloom in two or three years. Seedlings will naturally take longer – typically 7 to 10 years.

Just south of Daingerfield is you'll find this flowering beauty, a tree that really does rival any other found in Texas.

The Longview News-Journal reports that Wynell Smith Steely has the reigning state champion flowering dogwood tree.

Steely's tree received the champion’s title a decade ago, in November 2013. At the time his tree stood 28 feet, with a 44-foot-wide crown spread and a trunk circumference measuring 85 inches. “People have come from far,” says Steely.

The trees origins are Hughes Springs, where Steely grew up. She said that she transplanted three of them to her new property where she now lives. One died during drought conditions in 2011. A second tree stands smaller in the front yard, at about 15 feet high.

Many visitors have been fascinated with the tree, and sharing photos on social media. She's even had visitors just out of bed drive up to see her flowering tree.

“They had their pajamas,” Steely told the News-Journal. “They said, ‘Oh, we don’t want to get out or anything. We just wanted to come up here and see this tree.’”