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( Photo by : Adam Kuban )
In the super - snow-covered days of January and February , we ’re feature varlet from the many catalogs that are arriving in our berth daily . There ’s really nothing better than catalog indication — it ’s like windowpane shopping , but you could do it in your bed , while rust cooky . ( Well , maybe do n’t eat cookie in bottom . But you hump what I mean . )
For our first Plant Lust C. W. Post , we have to talk about the pages of beautiful magnolias in theRare Find Nursery catalogue . I produce up in San Francisco , where my parent had a large magnolia tree in their backyard , but I was never particularly impressed . Our variety of magnolia , which I have since learned is relegate asMagnoliasubgenusMagnolia , was an evergreen , and you ’ll often see these type of magnolia ( full name : Magnolia grandiflora ) in the South . These magnolia put out showy green farewell , which will last throughout the winter , and afterward , an occasional elephantine lily-white flower or two . ( At least in San Francisco — I have heard that they bloom more profusely in the South . ) They ’re telling trees , but , in my opinion , a bit stately and serious . If I may say so , with their leaf - first attitude , they ’re a little fleck like gray mullet : commercial enterprise up front , political party in the back .
Catalog photo by Anna Stockwell .
When I go to New York for college , I figure , for the first fourth dimension , the awing bloom - first - leave of absence - after magnolias ( or , continuing with my mullet analogy , party in the front , business in the back ) , bonk asMagnoliassubgenusYulania . These magnolia trees fail from empty branch to being surround in pink flower petal , in what seemed like an overnight translation . It was the most fun , frilly , downright PRETTY tree diagram I had ever seen and I loved it . Of course , like any political party animal , bloom - first magnolia take a immediate trip from splendiferous blooming prime to settle efflorescence . ( Generally about a week or so , I detect . ) But such is the transience of beauty .
Since my college years , I have always love the flirty , all - blossom - all - the - sentence eccentric of magnolias , and I always search them out in April , when they generally get down to blossom here in New York , for their speedy explosion of awful color .
In any case , Rare Find Nursery , base in Jackson , New Jersey , has an awesome selection of magnolias available for sale , probably the largest selection in the U.S. They work with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden , which has been doing some really groundbreaking work with magnolia cultivars over the retiring few decades . They even have an almost - black magnolia blossom !
FUN FACTS ABOUT MAGNOLIAS
- Having roamed * the Earth before bees evolved , magnolia trees are pollinated by beetles .
- Ents range inLord of the Rings . Why ca n’t magnolias ?
-Despite the title of respect of the pop movieSteel Magnolias , magnolia tree are n’t actually touchy . ( You know , how the ladiesseemedlike ticklish magnolias , but they were actually made of blade . ) Since they acquire to allow beetle to crawling all over them , magnolias are actually middling hard and pest - resistive .
-Magnolias are the national flower of North Korea , the commonwealth flower of Mississippi and Louisiana , and the state tree of Mississippi .
Top photo : Magnolia ' Elizabeth',at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and also pictured in the catalog spread . The catalog articulate : " One of the first and certainly the best - known of the yellow hybrids from a 1956 cross made at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden . legion butter - yellow , tulip mould flowers subject before the leave of absence on a fast - produce , extensive upright tree diagram . H : 20 - 30 ' W : 15 - 20 ' zone 5 - 9 . "
