I’m afraid it’s another case of if you don’t already have one, I demand you make your way to a garden centre and pick one up for yourself, right now. G’won, shoo.
For those of you who don’t know, I’ve had somewhat of a love-hate relationship over the past three years with my Stellata, mainly because it hasn’t flowered for those years but finally this year it flowered again. I was beginning to resign to the fact it wouldn’t flower again and that I should remove it and find a more wildlife friendly replacement tree/shrub. Just as its days were numbered it decided to teach me a lesson!
Now, my case is a strange one, I’ve no real idea why it decided to stop flowering but I do hope we’ve turned a corner now and if you get yourself one then don’t worry, I’m sure yours will flower regularly.
I think perhaps mine suffered from not enough water in the summer, so last year I made sure I watered it a lot, but it could just be coincidence.
Did I mention yet that they have a beautiful, mellow perfume? I’m loving sticking my nose into their blooms to take in their scent. Mmmmm, wonderful. I’m a fan of understated scents, mainly because strong smells trigger migraines, so I have to be careful with what I wear, so this tree suits me perfectly.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and that the weather is good for you :)
Copyright 2011 Liz.
All rights reserved. Content created by Liz for Gwirrel’s Garden.
19 comments:
Lovely pictures - I can almost smell it!
Liz, these flowers are elegant and flirty!
Excellent Liz, so glad it cooperated for you this time. The photos are lovely.
BTW, the last three letters of the word verification were very appropriately... LIZ :)
What a gorgeous surprise and well worth the wait. Wonder if the harder winter kicked it into flowering. I prefer these to the tulip magnolias - oh if only I had room for one. I can picture you with your nose in the blooms :)
What beautiful, delicate flowers - the white is so, so white!
Such elegant blooms! I regret, that in all of my gardens, I've never once planted a magnolia. I love them, and think they're beautiful trees, especially in spring, but for one reason or another, our gardens have never quite been suited to them. Here I think they'd grow, but the deer...oh deer...
Hi Su,
It does have a lovely delicate scent, and you really do need to get your nose in there to appreciate it :)
Hi Tatyana,
I just hope I have more of them next year! I'd love to have a massive tree full of them, as it is the tree is still small and I only had around 20 flowers on it, which I guess isn't too bad considering its size.
Hi Jan,
I'm glad you enjoyed the photos!
Sometimes I think the captcha thingy takes parts of the blog, as I've had it a number of times where the word seems to mirror the blog post in some way.
Hi Laura,
I'm inclined to agree with you re: the winter. I also think that for the past couple of years or more we've been hit by late snows/hard frosts well into March which then killed the buds off, but this past winter the snow arrived in early December and then we only had one more short load in January that only stayed around for a few hours or so.
To be honest, this is probably too large for our garden too, but they're slow growing and at the moment this one is only around 1m tall and I've had it well over 5 years. So at this rate, it's going to be a good while before it reaches its full maturity.
Hi Bub,
Don't you just love the white? I'm so glad we had virtually no rain for weeks, as it meant the petals remained nice and pure - only a couple have some brown patches from a light spit of rain.
Hi CV,
It's a shame you've been unable to have a Magnolia, and if I'm totally honest, I probably shouldn't have one either and would actually prefer to have a different, more wildlife friendly species. But I bought this a good few years ago now, back in a very different house and although I did enjoy having Bees visiting, I was still relatively new to the gardening business having only just graduated from Uni and my tastes have matured over time. I probably now wouldn't get one and would opt for something like a Rowan or other tree that wildlife loves.
Stunning photographs Liz, you have captured the grace of the petals perfectly. I've been knocked sideways by the scent this year, perhaps because there have been warm still days to sit out and enjoy it in. So glad yours finally flowered for you!
This is a gorgeous plant - but it's borderline here... often not making it through the winter. However, it might be worth a try in a more sheltered area... :-) Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos.
Lovely photos, Liz. I think watering when the flowers set (I think in autumn in the UK) is the most important time. It is so interesting what triggers or stops good flowering. In my case last year the crab apples hardly flowered at all because the winter wasn't cold enough. They liked this winter!
Mmmm, gorgeous ...I could almost smell them from here! :)
What a beauty Liz ~ it must have known your dastardly plans and decided to put in a special case for you to be kind to it :)
The petals are so pretty, they almost look like paper.
I have a stellata on my wish list, I'm just waiting till I get the right spot prepared. Such pretty pictures.
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