Magnolia zone

Reverence for magnolia trees is legendary in my family. One popular story tells how my great-grandmother wrecked her car because she was admiring a magnolia tree instead of looking where she was driving.

Magnolias were one of the few aesthetic compensations of moving here. Their citrus-smelling blossoms bewitch your nostrils when you’re out walking at night. The trees are grand, glossy, and primitively beautiful. They are considered “primitive” among plants, with ancient characteristics like separate flower parts that are the same size and grow in spirals below the ovaries.

Pierre Magnol (1683-1715) was the lucky guy who got his name applied not just to the genus of magnolia trees (Magnolia) but to the entire class of dicotyledons (Magnoliopsida), one of the two traditional categories of flowering plants. Most of the things you think of as trees and flowers (except for mosses, ferns, weird plants, conifers, and long-bladed flowering plants like lilies) are in this category. I enjoy following the branches underneath it to the subclass Magnoliidae, the order Magnoliales, the family Magnoliaceae, the subfamily Magnolioideae, all the way down to the genus Magnolia. That’s something for Pierre to be proud of.

Formerly only familiar with the plain old freely growing tree, I have been surprised and charmed by the creative cultivations of this plant visible on my daily commute. One cannot fail to admire the gigantic specimens growing in the park along the creek:


Not too long ago they finished remodeling one of the châteaux, and I was impressed with the staggered rows of exquisitely trimmed small magnolias that they planted next to it. Alas, their gardener has not been vigilant in retaining the trees’ lovely vase shape, but please try to imagine how it could be:


Finally, just the other day I noticed espaliered magnolias. I have never seen this phenomenon elsewhere, but I approve. See how those with neither gardens nor châteaux can still dwell with the great tree and gaze upon it when they park:


I intend to include one more picture of a plain old tree, but I haven’t taken a picture of it yet. Perhaps I will also switch these dull photos with photos taken in a more enchanting atmosphere if I get the chance.