Magnolia grandiflora, aka Southern Magnolia is the state flower of Louisiana. The tree is native to the southeastern United States and produces beautiful velvety white flowers. It's fragrance is sweetly unique and quite strong. Magnolias are evergreen with dark, shiny green leaves. It is very common to find these trees growing in cemeteries in the south. At Christmas time, everyone who didn't have magnolias growing in their yards would go gather magnolia greenery from the cemetery to decorate their houses.
My parents had a huge magnolia tree in their yard in Louisiana, and my children spent many happy hours playing in and under the tree. It was a playhouse, gym set and magical wonderland for them.
In our elementary music class I remember we used to sing the Louisiana State March Song:
Kissed by the Gulf's mighty stream,
A lovely state, LOUISIANA,
Where sweet magnolias, so rare,
Perfume the air
With fragrance that's supreme.......
Magnolias are in full bloom in north Alabama now. When passing anywhere near the trees we are blessed with their wonderful fragrance. Here's a photo of one on a tree yesterday.
And here it is, along with two others I picked as buds, in a chocolate Fiesta vase today:
We definitely need to plant some magnolias at the farm!
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2 comments:
Becky,
I LOVED your Magnolia post. Welllllll, they are as southern as fried chicken and I can't remember not having one or two in our garden. We have them everywhere up at our farm. You definitely need to plant some at your farm. I like to gather leaves for decorating at Christmas also. I wish we could plant the pink magnolias here in our area but unfortunately they do not do well. I bet they would do well at your farm.
BTW, your brown fiesta vase is gorgeous and your magnolias look pristine in your vase. Enjoy them and their entoxicating fragrance.
Carolyn
Thanks Carolyn. I was really surprised to not see any of these trees already growing at the farm. At home we used to see them in the woods everywhere. I've got so many pics of the girls playing in the one at Mom's house.
We do have a pink magnolia at the farm, but last year's late freeze really damaged it. We had about3 flowers this year. The tree is over 10 years old, so I think it will recover in another year or two.
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