Perhaps at their peak today. Blooms open about the same time as forsythia but they don’t last nearly as long. Rain, wind, or frost often decimate them overnight. For years we’ve called them northern magnolia (to distinguish from the more popular evergreen southern magnolia), but their correct name is probably saucer magnolia. They were 1993 gifts from David and Wena.
But magnolias April 6th:
Magnolias April 10th:
(Their petals were almost all on the ground after the rainfall April 15th.)
April 12th, 7:14am:
April 14th, 8pm, at dusk after a rainy day, with a hint of the redbuds blooming behind:
The blooms are only at their best for a few days. Fortunately this year, a rainfall and a couple of overnight freezes waited until after they were finished.
We still have one or two left . . .
. . . but after their glorious peak, it’s only a few days until most of the petals look like this:
Still, we shouldn’t shed a tear. With a little luck, there’ll be even more next year.
Above, 6:30pm Wednesday 14 March 2012. Below a shot in the dark from tree number one, about 6am Saturday 17 March, then again below, tree one about 9am. (About 5:30am, I’d been awakened by an owl of the variety “ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, UH-OOOOOH”, and subsequently dragged out of bed by young dog Cadbury.)
Wikipedia References: Magnolia, Magnolia Soulangeana
At home, about 8am Saturday, 9 April 2011, after a cold, drizzy night at the end of a week with both warm and cool days, some strong wind, and at least one brief spell of heavy rain. (Through the winter, we have to surround these trees with 5′ wire fencing to save their large, fuzzy buds from the deer.)
Below, a few shots of the same from Monday afternoon this week.
Here’s a reference to Gardening-Guy.com, on what looks like the same plant.