Say your piece and sail away until the tide's in

[sovay]

I checked in on the magnolia. It seemed to be doing all right.



The shadow of the house we live in fell so nicely on the garage that isn't ours.



It would probably not have occurred to me to decorate my front yard with a wagon wheel, but I am delighted that it occurred to someone else. With the green leaves winding its spokes, it looks like a Tarot card.



As promised, the magnolia. The telephone pole stayed out of shot this time.

I could not get a picture of the two raptors we saw circling over the Tufts campus, and the weeping cherry discovered at a local intersection was so barely in bloom that it seemed unfair. I will return for it.

I am trying to figure out if our upstairs neighbors are watching a period drama or just listening to music, because first I heard "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and then "Anji," both of which are extremely recognizable echoing through our ceiling.

Comments

[hyarrowen]

That magnolia is an absolute picture! Do you happen to know what species it is? I love them all, and will admit to being a bit nerdy.

[sovay]

That magnolia is an absolute picture! Do you happen to know what species it is? I love them all, and will admit to being a bit nerdy.

Thank you! I am afraid I have no idea. After perusal of the internet, it looks most like this variant of star magnolia to me. They are common ornamentals around here; there was a very nice one on our former street.

[hyarrowen]

I took a guess at star magnolia but hadn't thought of a hybrid. They're really good performers if they've got the right conditions and it looks as though this one has!

/gets back in her basket

[sovay]

/gets back in her basket

Come out of that basket! I want to ask you what the right conditions are!

[hyarrowen]

Er, well, Cornwall does very well, and the South Coast of England. And New Zealand which is great for practically anything, and China, which is where a lot of them come from originally, as well as your neck of the woods. A nice lot of leaf-mould is very helpful. And I've got a yulan - Magnolia liliflora (I think) in my neighbour's back garden in SE Australia that overhangs my tree-fern, that's glorious in spring. (Cornwall is great for magnolias, tree ferns and camellias, a trio made in gardening heaven.) I think a good warm-to-hot summer that ripens the wood is a must-have. Magnolia grandiflora is a bit of a standout - it likes warm and humid, like on the Gulf Coast of the USA, as opposed to simply warm to hot.

*surprised expression* I remembered more than I thought! Magnolias are awesome though, been around since the dinosaurs.

/basket creak

[davidgillon]

My mother's neighbour has a magnolia that does very well despite being in the North East of England, which is definitely a harsher climate than Cornwall.

[davidgillon]

And my mother spontaneously volunteered this evening that the local magnolias were looking lovely when I mentioned my cherry was in blossom.

[sovay]

And my mother spontaneously volunteered this evening that the local magnolias were looking lovely when I mentioned my cherry was in blossom.

Nice!

[hyarrowen]

That's fabulous! What species/variety is it? I've never seen one flourish in that area, though on the west coast on Scotland they do pretty well, especially near the coast.

[hyarrowen]

Also, come to think of it, I've never been there earlier than midsummer, so I wouldn't have noticed flowering magnolias.

[davidgillon]

No idea beyond 'it's a magnolia'.

[hyarrowen]

Sounds great, anyway (tho' I can't imagine a not-great magnolia!)