Magnolia 'Jane'

Magnolia
Magnolia 'Jane'
(mag-NO-lee-a)

This is one of the two eight Little Girl hybrid Magnolias growing at the Estate. Both have turned into beautiful small trees. ‘Jane’ seems a little smaller than ‘Rikki’, which is a good thing considering where it is planted. A couple of things I like about this series are the smaller stature, darker flower color and the biggest one is the later bloom time. They often bloom about two weeks later than the other Magnolias and this allows them to usually escape any late spring frosts. ‘Jane’ is a very nice addition to the landscape and is often a bit of showstopper when in bloom. I would like to add ‘Susan’ to the collection, as I love the flower color. I will have to add that to my “need to get” list.


The great American road trip start tomorrow in the early am. Connecticut to Key West, Florida with two winter weary snowbirds, a Border collie and a Siberian husky as confirmed ticket holders. I will be updating our progress on twitter as we try and skirt yet another winter storm headed up the east coast.

Yellow Magnolia

Yellow Magnolia
Magnolia x ‘Hot Flash’
(mag-NO-lee-a)
Click Here for a Larger Version

This is a very yellow Magnolia and it was just starting to bloom last weekend. That gives it the potential to extend the magnolia blooming season. One thing I learned while researching this post is there are many more yellow Magnolias than I thought. There is a ‘Yellow Bird’ in my garden and it is still flowering, with the buds the deer were kind of to leave me.

‘Hot Flash’ is suppose to form a small tree to 30 feet with both big and bold foliage. The nursery wanted $495 for about 12 foot plant. It did have a lot of buds and was a handsome specimen. There were only two for sale. This Magnolia is a cross between M. 'Woodsman' x M. 'Elizabeth’. ‘Elizabeth’ I am familiar with, while not common, it is easy to see large trees of that variety. I have not seen ‘Woodsman’ before and will keep my eye out for a look.

Sweet Michelia Tree

Sweet Michelia
Magnolia doltsopa
(mag-NO-lee-uh) (dolt-SOH-puh)
Synonyms: Chinese Magnolia, Michelia doltsopa (my-KEE-lee-uh)

The fragrance of this tree still lingers in my mind. It smelled heavenly. The size, structure and flowers of the tree were impressive, also. It was my first time seeing a Sweet Michelia and it was great on every level except the flowers were very dirty, which I think was a local problem particular to this tree. It didn’t make for a pretty close up that is for sure.

Magnolia doltsopa is a native of the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It grows to about 30 feet tall and can tolerate full sun or part shade. It likes moist soil and a sheltered location. If I lived in Zone 9 there would be one in my garden.

All the pictures in today’s post and the black and white from yesterday are from my visit to The Huntington in San Marino, California in February. It is an amazing place.

This is from the Chinese Garden. Shot with the Sigma 24mm / 1.8 lens. I have to break out that lens this weekend. Lately I have been using the 60mm and 105mm exclusively.

Cucumber Magnolia

Cucumber Magnolia
Magnolia acuminata
(mag-NO-lee-uh) (ah-kew-min-AY-tuh)
Synonyms: Yellow Cucumber tree, Mountain Magnolia

From this page on the Western North Carolina Nature Center website by H. Clay Smith I learned that Magnolia acuminata is the hardiest and most widely distributed Magnolia native to the United States (8 species). It is also the only species native to Canada. It can grow to over 80 feet tall and can live for 120 years. It is considered one of the latest flowering Magnolias.

This picture was taken earlier this spring and the size of flower and the creamy yellow color was beautiful. It makes a handsome landscape specimen. The foliage can be 12 inches long and the 2 to 3 inch long ‘cucumbers’ add some novelty interest. Some of the cultivars of interest to the gardener include 'Butterflies', 'Yellow Bird', and 'Elizabeth'.

Ugh, another one to two inches of rain is expected here today. Here is a photo of the whole flower.

Star Magnolia - Skywatch Friday

Star Magnolia
Magnolia stellata
(mag-NO-lee-uh) (stell-AY-tuh)
Skywatch Friday

The sky sure was gorgeous yesterday and there were a few minutes to snap a some pictures of the Star Magnolia. There also was time enough to take a few deep breaths of the scent. This Star has been planted for about 12 years and it has grown fairly slowly to a nice shrubby specimen. A detailed look at some of the flowers revealed that a frost had nipped at the buds. There was a little discoloration on some the now open petals. It must have been that night in the 20’s a couple of nights ago. Most Magnolias can be hit by frost around here in Connecticut. It is rare and hasn’t happened in recent memory.


Growing this Japanese native is easy. It likes moist sun but can grow in part shade also. I like to site them in a warmer area of the garden just to be safe even though they are hardy to USDA Zone 4. They are really showy in flower and look good during the summer with handsome foliage.


There are a few cultivars of Star Magnolia. I have seen 'Centennial' which was introduced to celebrate the Arnold Arboretum’s 100th Anniversary in 1972. There is also a variety called 'Royal Star' which has pink buds. I saw one of those blooming on the street we have been working on in Greenwich. It was quite beautiful but much taller than the advertised height of 10 feet.

To see other skies from around the world:
Skywatch Friday Main Page

Blue Bush

Blue Bush
Eucalyptus macrocarpa
(yoo-kuh-LIP-tus) (ma-kro-KAR-pa)
Synonyms: Mottlecah, Desert Mallee
Today’s Flowers

This plant was a highlight in a day full of botanical magic yesterday. I drove up to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Of all the gardens I have visited this one was one of the most stunning. On hindsight visiting on Valentine’s Day wasn’t the best idea since the garden was crowded with couples. Lucky I arrived early and had a couple of hours before the crowds started. The garden was unbelievable in many ways and the Desert and the Palm gardens were my favorite.

Blue Bush Foliage

This Blue Bush was growing in the Australian garden, which had a large collection of plants from down under. The bright gray foliage and the red flowers caught my attention right away. From looking the plant up it is a long-lived perennial that grows to 12 feet tall and produces a decorative nut (I didn’t see any on the two specimens at the garden). It is hardy to USDA Zone 9 and has low water requirements once established. They can suffer from sooty mold and the plants at Huntington were suffering a bit from that.

The Camellia Festival was going on at the garden. Their collection was amazing and some were 30 to 40 feet tall and covered with blooms. The Magnolia, Cherry trees and Azaleas were also blooming. One of the most fascinating things to me was there were a lot of plants that grow back east and all of the tropical stuff, too.

Saucer Magnolia

Here is a picture of the Cactus Collection; did I say it was amazing? It was. The paths kept circling around with more and more varieties and types to be seen.


I will be posting more Huntington pictures during the week. The camera seemed to be working well. I mostly used the D700 with the 60mm lens.

For more flower pictures from around the world visit
Today’s Flowers . It opens at 6pm GMT.

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.

ABC Wednesday – Magnolia

ABC Wednesday – Magnolia

If you are here for Wordless Wednesday please scroll down to the next post. Thanks for stopping by.

With perfect timing the Magnolia flower arrived this week just in time for an ‘M’ post. This first picture is a yellow form (which you don’t see that often) called ‘Butterflies’. I actually took this picture at the local wholesale nursery because the ‘Butterflies’ I have been growing for the last 20 years has never flowered. It is in too much shade and is probably too big to move now because of its location. I still hope to see a flower on it someday.


These other two photos were a something I have been experimenting with lately. Trying to get one flower in focus with a blurred background of many of the same flower. The first one is actually a double ‘M’ since it is a ‘Merrill’ Magnolia. You can see the difference of the two photos as the first one was shot on a cloudy, flat, grey day and the second was a sunny clear day.


The second photo is a different species called a Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata). These are usually one of the first flowers out around here and I think they are a tad later than usual this year. They grow as a shrubby tree and are nice for the garden since they grow slowly.

Magnolias date back 95 million years.

For a complete list of ABC Wednesday Blogs visit:
mrs. nesbitts place

Wordless Wednesday - Saucer Magnolia

All in the wild March-morning I heard the angels call;

It was when the moon was setting, and the dark was over all;

The trees began to whisper, and the wind began to roll, And in the wild

March-morning I heard them call my soul.

Lord Alfred Tennyson
The May Queen

ABC Wednesday – X

ABC Wednesday – X

Happy New Year to all! If you are visiting for WW please scroll down to the next post.

X is a tough letter. I decided to use one of the signs that mark the plants at the Estate garden. I tried to get cute with this picture and only get the X in focus. There about 700 of these signs and correspond to about half of the plant species and cultivars. I picked this sign since it has an X in the middle of the name. Without getting too technical (and a bit boring to some I sure) the X stands for a hybrid between two species of the same genera. These are generally natural or wild occurring hybrids and are ‘interspecific’. Hybrids that occur between different genera are more rare and are called ‘intergeneric’. They are usually denoted with the X before the first name, which is often a combination of the two genera. For example the intergeneric hybrid of Ammophila arenaria and Calamagrostis epigeios is known as xAmmocalamagrostis baltica.

This particular plant, Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum', is one of my favorite groundcovers. It got its X from being a hybrid of Epimedium grandiflorum and E. pinnatum subsp. colchicum (subsp. stands for subspecies, naturally occurring geographical variant of a species). This plant has several common names including Bishop’s Hat and Bicolor Barrenwort. It is a handsome plant that spreads well by rhizomes (not invasively) in both sun and moderate shade. The yellow flowers (that’s where the ‘Sulphureum’ comes in) are spurred and the petals, sepals and spurs are different shades of yellow. They bloom early and their bright color is welcome in the spring. Epimediums are getting more and more popular and there are several types that do well in the garden. I rummaged a round for a picture of the flowers but couldn’t find one. I will have to remember to shoot one in the spring.

Many of the Magnolias seem to like to hybridize and this one is Magnolia x Elizabeth. It was the first yellow Magnolia to be widely available and is still considered one of the best yellows. These pictures are from Wave Hill.

Magnolia x Elizabeth (M. acuminata x heptapeta)


For those you not interested in plants here is an X I saw when I was walking my dogs across the street at the school.


Here is the ABC Wednesday Blogroll:

mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
kate isis
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
author blog
kai
Mollitudes
ten forty
Neva
Ackworth born, gone West
Secluded Habitat
katch photo
Mr. Mapper
The Max Files
Oswegan
Watch me, No Watch me
Peter Miller
Lynette
Andrea’s Thought of the Day
Photowannabe
RuneE’s Visual Norway
Happy One
Jim Baker Photography
Azure
HPY
cre8tiva
NYCindividual
imac

Outtakes from ABC Wednesday

Outtakes from ABC Wednesday

Every week when I participate in ABC Wednesday I have a lot of pictures left over from that particular letter. This week I went with Foliage as the ‘F’ word (that sounds funny) and had ‘F’ruit as a back up. So I thought I would go ahead and post the fruit pictures. The definition of fruit in Botany is: the seed-bearing structure of a plant, e.g., an acorn. It was easy to find all sorts of examples of this out in the garden this time of year. I actually had many more examples of this type of thing but decided to post these. The first picture is from the Estate and is the seed capsule of Large Leafed Cucumber Tree (Magnolia macrophylla). I read somewhere that this tree holds the record for having the largest simple leaf in North America. It really adds a tropical feeling to gardens in this area as it almost looks like a Banana Tree.



This second photo is from a Fragrant Snowbell Tree (Styrax obassia). I don’t know why more people don’t grow Styrax because they are beautiful small scale trees that don’t seem to have too many problems. At least my experience with them is they are trouble free and very rewarding. They bloom a bit later than most of the flowering trees around here. This picture was taken in Monochrome with my Nikon Coolpix 8400. It is an awesome camera that has so many features I still learning about them. When they were discontinued by Nikon the price fell through the floor and I only paid $399. What a bargain. It gives you a choice of 2 different User Settings, which can be selected via the little wheel (there is probably a technical term for the wheel). You can set the various menu items for each one and toggle back and forth. I have one set to the color setting I like and the other to the Black & White settings. That makes it easy.



This third picture was taken at Wave Hill last Saturday afternoon. The Grape Arbor hangs over part of the terrace outside the little café. Sometimes it feels so weird being in the Bronx and sitting under a beautiful Grape Arbor. I didn’t see what type of grapes they were.

Magnolia ‘Porcelain Dove’

Magnolia ‘Porcelain Dove’

This picture was taken in Greenwich at a private garden I visited a few weeks ago. It has a great collection of plants and a lot of tropicals. Here is a blurb I found on the net about ‘Porcelain Dove’:
magnoliasociety.org

“[M. globosa, M. virginiana var. australis], cv. (Callaway, Dorothy J. The World of Magnolias, p. 225, 1994). ‘This hybrid was created by the late D. Todd Gresham in 1965 at his home, Hill of Doves, in Santa Cruz, California. ... ‘Procelain Dove’ was selected and named by Tom and Bill Dodd from hybrids Gresham shipped to their nursery in Semmes, Alabama. The leaves are much like those of M. virginiana and are semievergreen (Gresham must have used M. virginiana var. australis in his cross, although he did not list it as such). The flowers also resemble those of M. virginiana but are larger and quite fragrant. This hybrid received its name for its porcelain-white flower color and in honor of Todd Gresham's home, Hill of Doves. Named in 1986.’ (M. globosa x M. virginiana).”

It is from this book, which looks like a great reference on Magnolias:

The World of Magnolias



Here is Nimbo the garden cat. He is funny, he follows you around out in the garden stopping every once and awhile to stalk something. I miss having a cat.

Saucer Magnolia Buds

Saucer Magnolia Buds
Magnolia x soulangiana

These pictures are both Saucer Magnolias. The white one is ‘Pristine’ which has a white lily-shaped flower and a nice fragrance. I am in Santa Fe, New Mexico until Monday so the next update won't be till Tuesday.

Magnolia Seeds

This Magnolia fruit was at Wave Hill. I never knew that Magnolia had what is considered to be primitive flowers. I guess you could call them classic. I am already pining for the first spring flowers. I know they are still months away. Magnolias always remind me of spring although they often bloom sporadically during the summer. They have a couple nice seasons actually, with good yellow fall color and a distinct winter branching pattern. The buds are nice during the winter, also. I am not sure what type of Magnolia this is but I haven’t seen it in Connecticut. So I am thinking that it would not be hardy here.

I am happy it is Friday although tomorrow is supposed to be crummy around here. 1 to 2 inches of rain are expected and winds up to 50 miles per hour. Sounds like a good day to get caught up around the office.