There are several magnolias in what I consider to be "full bud" and ready to pop open... they'll hold up to the cold better than any blossoms that have fully expanded at this point. The two 'Butterflies' trees are really going to be a sight once we get a warm sunny day... here are some photos from this morning...
In the following photo, 'Butterflies' is flirting with 'Galaxy' which is much darker colored this year than normally, probably due to the cold temps of the past week.
Magnolia 'Simple Pleasures' continues its marvelous process of opening only a portion of its buds at a time... this will go on for weeks. It is pictured below with Magnolia 'White Rose', some of the blooms of which are showing browned areas due to the high cold winds we've been experiencing.
I think my biggest disappointment of this magnolia season would be if my 'Toro' blooms were to freeze. Two years ago the plant put out a half dozen blooms and they were amazing, large and very interestingly colored. Last year there were only a couple blooms, but this year is a different story all together. The tree is covered with huge buds of raspberry to muted yellow tones. And to think this tree may eventually reach 50- 75 feet in height. It will be important to retain the lower branches if possible and I can almost picture what a glorious sight it will be...
The little girls are doing their thing as well... pictured below is one of two 'Ann'(s) in the gardens and 'Betty'(s) with 'Pinkie'(s) ... I enjoy the colors on these trees although the blossom form isn't necessarily my favorite except for Pinkie... in the last photo of the group, some the last blooms of 'Spring Snow' can be seen cavorting with buds of 'Betty'.
One of the trees thin on flower buds except towards the top this year, is this 'Wada's Memory'. My experience has been that this is quite out of character for this plant...
I've been checking out this naturally hybridized seedling that I mentioned the other day. The more I see of it, the better I like it. In a magnolia blossoming world where bigger seems to mean better, and I admit to being guilty of feeling this way myself, this precocious little 8' sapling is displaying the most delicate little 1 and 1/2" blossoms that are absolutely lovely. Because of its location I am sure that Wada's memory is one of the parents and I expect that one of the "Little" girls is the other, hence the soft pink tones.
The following pictures are not particularly impressive, but I have to say that I am as excited as I can be about their subject. A year and a half ago I started primula seeds in late November and I am just now seeing the resulting blooms. I can picture dividing them into a great number of plants and filling these spaces with them... the colors are wonderful and have caused me to reconsider my preference for more subtle tones (only) in primulas...
I spent another wonderful day with my gardening friend 'Frog Pond'. This time we spent a few hours checking out every detail of my gardens and then went looking for nurseries with plants for sale, which was not very rewarding as it's way too early in the season. We also had our usual plant exchange from each other's gardens which is always fun. After my friend returned home, he sent me a few photos of what's blooming there and I'll share some of them here. I especially enjoyed seeing his Magnolia 'Crescendo' which was named by him and is becoming available throughout the world. You may recall that my young Crescendo tree had a problem last fall with all its roots severed except for one, I have no idea why. I dosed it with lots of rooting hormones and it came through the winter just fine, and is about to present me with its first four blooms ever. In fact, there are several magnolias in the gardens that will be blooming for the first time this year... that's always very exciting.
As an aside, many folks mentioned that they wanted to come at magnolia season this year for a garden visit... I expect some will be surprised to learn they will have missed them all together... despite a return to normal temps, the cycle will have passed about four to six weeks earlier than normal.
At any rate, here are some photos from my friend's garden taken this morning... with that I bid you well... Larry
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