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!