Pic(k) of the Week: Dogwood riverside

Click on the image for a larger, hi-res version (on Flickr).

Its teal-hued drupes fruiting, a small, native silky dogwood shrub (Cornus amomum) grows on a rocky bank of the Ocoee River.

Ocoee Whitewater Center in the Cherokee National Forest.
Ducktown, Tennessee, USA.
1 August 2026.

Cornus amomum — commonly known as silky dogwood — is a deciduous shrub in the dogwood family, native to central and the eastern part of the United States and parts of Canada. It is typically found in swamp borders and wetlands, and near streams and ponds.

Silky dogwood may grow 6 to 12 feet tall (1.8 to 3.6 m). The leaves and twigs have silky hairs. A distinctive feature of this shrub is the dark brown pith in 1- to 2-year-old stems and the dark reddish twigs. Clusters of creamy white flowers bloom in the spring followed by small, 1-inch (2.5cm) blue drupes [stone fruits] that ripen in late summer.

— North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

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Duke Ellington: Suite from The River (The Giggling Rapids)

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• Album: The Private Collection Volume 7: The Suites, New York, 1968/1970
  Label: Saja Records (1970)
  
• Musicians:
  
  • Duke Ellington - piano, leader, composer
  • 24-piece orchestra that included:
    • Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Cootie Williams - trumpet
    • Paul Gonsalves, Harold Ashby - tenor saxophone
    • Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope - alto saxophone
    • Harry Carney – baritone saxophone


• Ellington composed The River to accompany a ballet by Alvin Ailey that premiered on June 25, 1970, at New York State Theater in Lincoln Center. It was orchestrated by Canadian jazz trombonist Ron Collier. [Per Stanley Sloame: Los Angeles Chapter of the Duke Ellington Society.] There are currently two (incomplete) recordings of the score:
  • Louisville Orchestra under Akira Endo (First Edition Records, 1983)
  • Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Jarvi (Chandos, 1993).


• As jazz historian Stanley Dance wrote, "A jazz orchestra version of The River by Wynton Marsalis would be far more interesting [to me] than any further symphonic version." One can hope. This is amazing music.

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• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays.
• Photo 32 of 52, for year 2026. See a larger, hi-res version on Flickr: here.


• Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
• Lens: Olympus M.40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R.
• Settings: 132 mm | 1/1600 sec | ƒ/5.4 | ISO 400.
• Edit: Photoshop Elements 15, Nik Collection (2016).


• Image licensed via Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Reproduction permitted, but with these provisos:
  • only in unadapted form
  • attribution required (e.g., Cizauskas on Flickr)
  • commercial use forbidden except with explicit permission.
  
  
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