Cucumber Magnolia 'Golden Sun'

Cucumber Magnolia
Magnolia 'Golden Sun'
Synonym: Magnolia acuminata

We had a big day on the new job yesterday. The crew is working like a well-oiled machine and they really did an amazing amount of work. I was able to do what I do without a lot of interference. There are 100’s of feet of Boxwood hedges at this house and I am hand pruning all the Dwarf English type. The other I am loose shearing and then touching up with the hand pruners. I call it a hybrid technique where I get all the really shaggy growth with the gas powered shears. They are probably the most misused tool I have ever seen. Plants and gardens have never been the same since they were invented.

Funny thing about this garden was I visited it in early March to make an estimate and didn’t get a warm feeling from it at all. I feel like normally I can evaluate a garden and see it good points even in the dead of winter but this place had me totally fooled. When I walked out behind the house yesterday my breath was literally taken away by the 20+ Pink Flowering Dogwoods in full bloom. It looked like an enchanted forest. I am bringing a wide angle lens today to try and capture the scene but I am not hopeful. I thought it was funny that I had posted a picture on this blog of Pink Flowering Dogwood only hours before.


This Magnolia was one the yellowiest I have seen. Definitely a deeper color than the ‘Butterflies’ Magnolia I posted a little while ago. It was at the nursery and for $300 you could have taken an 8-10 foot specimen home. I wish I had a place for one. The flowers were really big and had almost rubbery feel to them. It had just a hint of a fresh fragrance.

We had freezing temperatures here for several hours Wednesday night. I had to scrape ice off the windshield. Ugh.