Monday 31 March 2014

Magnolias at Wakehurst






When I am older I am going to have a Magnolia in my garden, a great big one.  Ok probably not a big one, but there will be a Magnolia of some description in my garden.  My dream of having a whole collection of them is maybe a tad unrealistic.

My next door neighbour has a sizeable one that is currently in full bloom and is an absolute picture.  It does come with slight drawbacks though; it insists on dropping its petals all over the lawn causing it to look like there is a permanent wedding going on out there and in leaf it casts half the garden into shadow.  Not helpful for planting.  However I love it, although I am not entirely sure why.  Maybe it is the unusually huge size of the flowers or the way one variety grows its flowers right on the end of the branches like someone has got up there and taped them on.  They somehow don’t look entirely natural and maybe that’s their charm.  My absolute favourite has ridiculously frilly blooms that remind me of London cheesecakes and shredded paper, completely over the top but very pretty.

A great place for seeing a whole bunch of varieties is Wakehurst Place Gardens in West Sussex.  This time of year visitors just can’t resist whipping out there fancy digital SLR cameras to shoot them from every angle, why I don’t know.  Do they go home and relive the memories??  Who knows.  Shamefully I joined them this year and I even skipped over the grass through the daffodil bulbs for some up close and personal shots, naughty me.  





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