Dogwood Cones

For years now, the trees in my neighbor's yard have confounded me. They are definitely dogwood but they produce little cones like a pine tree.

What the heck?

Are they maybe not dogwood at all? What leafy tree makes cones though? Are they some crazy hybrid?

Well, finally, I took a closer look today while I was on a walk with my wife and it became very clear. So clear that it made me feel really, really dumb. There are pine trees towering over their yard and periodically little sprigs break off, fall, and get caught up in branches of the dogwoods. As the dogwoods have continued to grow, the sprigs have become so well entwined that they look like part of the same tree. It's even difficult to disentangle them.

Ha! Dogwood cones. Duh. Who ever heard of such a thing?