The Magnolia Watch

A saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana) dominates my front yard. In mid-spring, it bears fragrant, saucer-shaped white flowers from 4 to 6 inches across flushed with pink or violet. Thirty feet high and close to that wide, it can be a hard tree to live with. It sheds small branches thoughout the year and casts a dense shade that little will grow in. When the buds open, their fuzzy sheaths litter the ground.

Thick leathery leaves turn a dull unattractive brown in fall and are hard to rake and slow to compost. Most importantly the flowers are frequently browned by early Spring frosts and freezes or frozen on the stems by late snows, rendering the flower display either very short or non-existent.

Even with all those difficulties, I would not eliminate it from my garden because in those years when the weather cooperates it is glorious in bloom.

So every year around this time, my wife and I keep one eye on the weather forecast and the other on the magnolia buds.

Getting Closer

Well, a few days of higher temperatures and a bit of sun make a big difference in your outlook at this time of the year. Of course, opening day of the baseball season and a few straight weekends of Kentucky Derby prep races doesn’t hurt either.

The dry days gave me a chance to get out and prune some shrubs back, loosen up some mulch, and chop down the ornamental grasses. The ground has that spongy spring squish to it, so most other spring tasks will have to wait. The three fine days were followed by three of fog, drizzle and day long dusk. So once again I am reduced to playing around with lettuce seedlings in the basement and the sunroom. That is beginning to get old.

For something new, the Iris reticulata poked through this week.

All filled up

The Saturation point has arrived.

Defn. of SATURATION ( courtesy of Merriam-Webster )

1
a : the act of saturating : the state of being saturated
b : satiety, surfeit
2
: conversion of an unsaturated to a saturated chemical compound (as by hydrogenation)
3
: a state of maximum impregnation: as
a : complete infiltration : permeation
b : the presence in air of the most water possible under existent pressure and temperature

And soon to be added:
4
: Spring in NE Ohio, 2011

No Complaints Here.

The weather has been cold and wet and the grumbling has begun. Even though the trip through early spring has been slow, slippery, and sopping, the flowering of the crocus (over now), daffodils and hyacinths has been extended. In a warmer spring these early bloomers come and go quickly. Primroses and forsythia have been in bloom for a full two weeks and show no sign of slowing down.
Star Magnolias are just opening buds on their south and westerly exposures, the full scale magnolias will be right behind.
So as the groundswell of grumbling grows with each cold,damp day, there will be no complaints from this gardener. I’ll just sit back and enjoy the show.

The Battle Joined

They first arrived Saturday.Gently at first, gaining strength as the day wore on. They paused on Sunday, as if to catch their breath. Then, successive waves Monday, Tuesday and today. Cold fronts! Born in the shortening, cooling days far to the north, they trek across Canada, gathering moisture over the lakes and deposit it here in NE Ohio: Misty fog, drizzle and showers in equal measure

The battle is joined. It will be fought here over the next month or so. Cold winds from the north versus warm breezes out of the south. The outcome is inevitable. The warmth will retreat to rest and rejuvenate in the South like snowbird on a Florida beach. The victory will be temporary. The warm air will return next year, but for now the battle.

The earth, parched by a few weeks of dry weather soaks up the rains. The trees, shrubs and especially the evergreens soak up the moisture to help fend off the drying winds of the coming winter.

The ground, dry and hard a few days ago is spongy moist underfoot. Squirrels plant their nuts and moles, voles and groundhogs dig their winter tunnels in the soft earth.