Are Trees Flowers?

I first started noticing flowering trees when I lived in Georgia, circa 1997.  Every Spring, or every whatever time of year passes for Spring in Georgia's climate, all the dogwood trees would flower overnight.  Might not have been dogwoods but let's call them that.  For about a week, these medium-sized trees would be covered in white blossoms so thick you couldn't see any leaves, reminiscent of giant cotton balls.

I bought my house two years ago in Summer, so I thought nothing of the tree in my front yard.  Last Spring, surprisingly, it erupted in beautiful pink blossoms.  This year, I took pictures.

Here's a chronology of a bloom fortnight in my neighborhood.

April 16.  Red buds cover the tree, but it still looks pretty bare.

April 18.  Starting to flower.  I decided to take pictures around 8:00 AM, when the sun is behind the camera.

April 19.  Very pretty.

April 20.  Very few leaves visible.  Neighbor's garbage can included in background at no extra charge.

April 21.  Filling out nicely.

April 22.  Earth Day.  I mean Goldwing Day.

April 23.  About the same as yesterday, which is to say, very nice.

April 26.  It rained on April 24 & 35, so no pictures from those days.  Petals are starting to drop.

April 27.  Leaves are becoming much more visible. My neighbor's garbage can and recycling bin makes another cameo appearance.  Neighbor recycles mostly bottles, if you get my drift.

April 29.  The fun is almost over.

April 30.  Still some pink there but the leaves really want to take over.  Where did all the petals go?

There they are.  It looks like a hail storm but no, those are petals.