Magnificent Magnolification

'Ann' Magnolia

 As nice as it is when my Magnolia stellata recovers from disaster, it's nicer still when my other magnolias burst into bloom with a bountiful floriferous display.   Oh, I know you southern gardeners are quietly laughing behind your masks, sitting there with your Sweet Bay Magnolias and Live Oaks in full display now out your windows, the former casually doling out dinner-plate sized blossoms and filling the air with fragrance, but one takes what one can get.  Particularly, we poor middle Plains dwellers are happy at any "magnolification" of our lives. 

'Ann' Magnolia

My life, or at least my garden, is measurably richer since I discovered the "Little Girl" series of magnolias, eight Zone-4-hardy cultivars released in 1968 by the National Arboretum. Crosses of one of two Magnolia liliiflora cultivars (‘Nigra’ and ‘Reflorescens’) and one of two Magnolia stellata cultivars (‘Rosea’ and ‘Waterlily’), these bloom "approximately two weeks later" than Magnolia stellata.  I, and I presume other Zone 5-6 gardeners, are forever grateful to William F. Kosar and Dr. Francis de Vos, who made these sterile F1 hybrids at the U.S. National Arboretum in 1955 and 1956. 

'Jane' Magnolia

I have only light pink 'Jane' and more deeply red-wine-colored 'Ann' of the series, although I briefly grew 'Susan'  in 2007 and never got her established.  My 'Jane' is a 2008 planting for me, and she grows taller than 'Ann', forming a 10 foot tall by 8 foot wide specimen at maturity.   I planted 'Ann' in 2013 and she's grown into a striking lass of 7 foot tall and 5 feet wide now.  'Ann' is Mrs. ProfessorRoush's favorite among my magnolias, doubtless for the richer color, and she's a little ahead of the forsythia beside her this year.  I have not made a concerted effort to search out the other National Arboretum releases, buying what I find locally when I come across it.

'Jane' Magnolia

All of these 'Little Girl' cultivars grow as clumps rather than trees, although for me, that just means more flowers whenever these escape late freezes.   I'm sure a few mad gardeners out there are trying to train one of them into unnatural single-stemmed forms, but there are twisted gardeners out there among all the other twisted human beings.   My maternal grandmother used to wisely proclaim "there's a fool for every fool," referring usually to couples, but I'd stretch that sentiment to "there's a warped gardener for every unnatural plant."

'Ann' Magnolia

I'm thrilled these two little beauties show only the faintest damage from our cold spell last week, and the near future forecasts show, for once, that they're likely to give me a full season before they fade back into the greenery with all the other foliage.  Both, so far, are hardy and completely trouble-free for me requiring only a bit of trimming of low buds or fencing to keep the deer from nibbling all the tender buds before they open.

Meanwhile, somewhere out there, my 'Yellow Bird' Magnolia is budding up, preparing to take the baton from my "Little Girls" in the massive relay race of deciduous life.  I'm sure another annual 'Yellow Bird' admiration post is just around the bend!

Resilent and Resolute

03/18/2025

As a not-so-fortunate example of the highs and lows of gardening in Kansas, ProfessorRoush will live up to his blogging pseudonym and use the visual effects of this week's weather weirdness on his mature and long-suffering Magnolia stellata as an apt illustration for the enlightment of others.  The reader, likely safely within their own cocoon of warmth and shelter, can receive this blog entry as a message of hope, a cry for help, a non-silent protest of suffering, or as a combination of all three. 

Let's recap, shall we?   The photo above, taken on the evening of 3/18/2025, showed my beautiful Star Magnolia on its first day of full display in 2025, resplendent after a 76ºF day and several previous warm days.  The temperature that evening began to drop around 5 p.m., was still 68º at 10 p.m., and the drop continued overnight and through the next day, supplemented by a cold wind and snow flurries.   By 5:30 p.m. on 3/19/2025, it was 36ºF and my back yard looked like this (the Magnolia is behind the prominent tree on the left):

03/20/2025

By the evening of 3/20/2025, my lovely M. stellata had, indeed and as predicted, turned to brown mush, a muted tableau in the grand view, and a disastrous display of ruined blossoms in the closer view.  Oh, the despair!  Oh, the horror!

Stunning, isn't it, how quickly the fickle fingers of weather can crush the vision and hopes of a gardener, literally freezing out any designs and dreams of a glorious future?  One, indeed, could not blame a gardener who, after such a disappointment, hangs down their head and hangs up their shears.  Nor condemn one who chooses the extreme alternative of a graveled lawn and plastic plants for its low maintenance and absence of heartache.   It would be so easy to withdraw indoors away from such devastation and choose to gluttonously eat an entire chocolate cake or to drink oneself into an uncaring stupor in the aftermath.

The experienced Kansas gardener, and, lo, nearly all Midwestern gardeners, however, are made of sterner stuff, battle-worn and weary, tested but yet undefeated.  Even among the browned petals of lost flowers, one can find hope in the still-closed buds and demure cream-pink hints of beauty-to-come.

03/22/2025

And here it is, two days later, after a sunny day of a 62ºF high and in the midst of a 2nd sunny day at 66ºF, back to blooming like there was no yesterday and because it knows there may be, in fact, no tomorrow.  But there is, at the end of even the worst day, always hope that if a tomorrow comes, it will be filled with warmth and sunshine and calm, heaven descended to ground and peace on Earth for all creatures verdant or vital.

Brown Mush Incoming

 Our recent week-long warm spell of 60F-75F converted what I anticipated as a delayed Spring and a to-be-continued uniformly bland landscape into a bland landscape punctuated with exciting bits of color.  Pray ye heed, I plead, not to notice the Henbit at the base of the sunny daffodil and crocus here.  Although I've mowed off some ornamental grasses and peonies and irises, I'm far behind on my chores.

I saw, to my surprise, my first daffodil open on March 16th, in the back landscaping as glimpsed from my windows, and yet even several more on March 18th, the day I took all of the pictures here.   The last time I looked closely, just before our trip to Southern California, they had barely still broken ground and no flower buds were visible.  And after the sub-zero nights of mid-February, I didn't expect them yet.

I had an inkling, however, that my garden was beginning to stir from winter slumber on March 15th, Sunday, as I discovered and swooned over the first open bloom of my Star Magnolia, experiencing an unexpected moment of joy and nearly overdosing on its musky, heady scent.  I was entirely unprepared however to find that only 3 days later the shrub had exploded with a massive display of the purest white, matched with an intoxicating fragrant region anywhere downwind.  I took these last night, enticed to venture down to the garden by this surprising cloud of creamy goodness.

I wait, annually, for the Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata) to announce the onset of Spring, dependent on it as my herald of the season, and this year it surely did not disappoint me, loudly proclaiming the new Spring to the Kansas heavens.   Unmatched in virginal purity, these blossoms live "rent-free" in my dreams, the very essence of garden beauty and the promise of another year.   I wrote previously about the grace of a fellow gardener suffering from terminal cancer, wishing only to live to plant in another Spring.  My recurring winter wish is similarly specific, to see again each year the daffodils and smell the Star Magnolia.

This year, the Star Magnolia iss accentuated by the nearby bushes of 'Meadowlark' Forsythia, blooming as never before.   You can see them as a backdrop to the magnolia on the photo at right, or alone, below, in all their golden glory.   My other forsythia are more shy at present, not willing to risk the fickle whims of Spring, but 'Meadowlark' has bravely chosen this moment to shine.

Of course, the minor bulbs are popping up everywhere, my beloved Scilla spreading naturally over broader areas of several beds.   Large Dutch crocus are dwindling survivors for me, and daffodils persist as clumps, multiplying and needing division, but Scilla have naturalized in my garden, spreading everywhere that offers any protection from the harsh Kansas sun, at the feet of peonies and daylilies and roses, or merely in the more welcoming eastern- and northern-exposed beds.

Alas, I write in the sure knowledge that all this beauty and bright color is but a transitory mirage, a shifting and soon-to-disappear vision that will recede under the onslaught of the Arctic wind outside my window at this moment.   Yesterday's high temperature was 79F and it was still 68F at midnight last night.  Temperatures fell steadily through the night however, and I woke to 36F at 6 a.m. and the gales of a blizzard bearing down on our area and promising snow today, a low of 29F tonight and a certain death to the fragile Star Magnolia blossoms. By tomorrow, each creamy petal will begin to brown and droop, just brown mush and death, lost opportunities for early bees and whining gardeners.   

My 'Ann' Magnolia, wiser and less daring than M. stellata, has opened but a single flower at present, and I can only hope she continues to delay her debut at the annual Spring Ball.  Patience, in Spring as much or even more than other seasons, is a virtue for both the garden and the gardener. 

San Diego Zoo Safari Park Bonsai Pavilion

Today, ProfessorRoush would like to apologize in advance for leading his captured audience on yet another set of vacation photos, but in the place of more brown Kansas landscapes, I wanted to share my recent admiration of a semi-ancient garden art form; Bonsai!

On my grandson's birthday last week, Mrs. ProfessorRoush and I found ourselves in sunny Southern California, trying to keep up as the family walked through the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  At the limits of grandparent endurance, far from the park entrance and in the back reaches of the "Outback", I was delighted to come across the Bonsai Pavilion created and maintained by the San Diego Bonsai Club.  The Pavilion opened in 1987 and is touted as the first and largest Bonsai display in the Western United States.

The Bonsai Pavilion consists of a long gallery of individual Bonsai pieces, each labeled by the tree species and with the creator's name.  I didn't count them, but there were at least 50 and perhaps up to 100 individual specimens, each displayed at eye level on an individual stone table and contained in a solemn and quiet "room" with the occasional cough of a distant tiger to break up the sense of peace. 

I'm always astonished at the beauty of Bonsai, and always tempted to take up the art form, but as the basic requirements are some moderate degree of artistic sense and a PhD in patience, I'm simply destined to fail.  Still, appreciation and admiration for the messages in each piece could have kept me rooted at the site for hours.

I've added two "vistas" of the overall Bonsai display garden as the first two photos above, and followed it by photos here of several impressive specimens with different forms and techniques illustrated.

There was an equally impressive variety of species represented in the garden, with multiple representatives of both evergreen and deciduous forms, and each specimen making maximum use of the individual bark and leaf characteristics of the individual tree.

Here at left was one of my favorites of the day, this "grove" of trees mimicking and illustrating an entire forest in a small area.   

And, at right, I wanted to convey a small illustration of the technique of Bonsai, in this case the rock suspended on the tree, weighting down and slowly bending a branch into the artist's chosen position.

All in all, whenever you chance to visit the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and you find yourself staring at the park map, wondering if the distance and climb to the botanical displays are worth it, my advice is to reach deep down inside to gather your energy and strength and to stumble, limp, or simply crawl, if you must, to reach it but I promise the reward is worth the pain!   My compliments to the San Diego Bonsai Club!