Big Bloom

(Click on each of the thumbnails to get a larger picture.)

That’s what the species name means: Magnolia grandiflora has one big bloom. Well, it has more than one. The “one” was used for emphasis. Southern magnolia, or bull bay, has the biggest blossoms of any tree I can think of. I haven’t been everywhere, so I better not say “biggest” just yet, because there could be something out there I am not aware of. Let’s just say BIG, and leave it at that. Whether it is the biggest blossom sported by any species of tree is not important. What is important is that Southern magnolia says The South. A Southern Magnolia makes you think of Gone with the Wind, Colonel Sanders, and mint juleps.

Native along the eastern coastal plains from South Carolina to the tip of east Texas, this giant gem has adapted well farther north; much farther. The blossoms aren’t the only thing that is big. The leaves, dark glossy-green, with fuzzy brown undersides, are as big as your hand. Slow growing, a Southern magnolia will eventually reach sixty or more feet tall, with a spread of fifty or more feet wide. Oh, and did I mention, southern magnolia is evergreen, even though the leaves burn and tatter a bit here in northeastern Oklahoma. Spring fixes that with a fresh set to replace the old ones. Southern magnolia provides a dense shade, and its lower limbs can be left to grow all the way to the ground, or trimmed up so you can sit under them on a hot summer day. It looks good either way, although my wife prefers the to-the-ground look, which is fine with me.

The blooms, as you can see, are pure velvety-white, and as big as a dinner plate. What you can’t see is the sweet fragrance. It is not overpowering, just pleasant. My wife took these shots. I couldn’t decide on just one, as there wasn’t a bloom “just right.” The third shot, although pretty enough from a distance, lacks many of the stamen, the male reproductive parts that hold the pollen. In a day the petals too will fall, and the little seed “grenade” will begin to form. The second blossom, although nearly fully open, conceals the center parts. The last shot I guess I took, as those are my wife’s pretty fingers on the right helping mine on the left to peek behind the curtain.

Southern magnolia does not boast a spectacular display of blossoms, lasting for only a couple of weeks. They come instead a few at a time each day, each lasting a few days, for several weeks in late spring and early summer. The “grenades” persist for the rest of summer, with the slick, red seeds peeking from its crevices toward the middle of summer. If you have the space for it in your landscape, Southern magnolia will make you feel like a southern gentlemen (or a southern belle).

Have a good weekend. See you in the Lord’s house on Sunday.