It still says "Share your photos", so here are two photos from last week, of magnolias at UBC Botanical Garden. Sorry, I can't name them. This has been a great year for magnolias in Vancouver. They don't last very long, though, so these might be finished, as the photos are from March 8. [Edited by wcutler 20100317] The one on the right is Magnolia campbellii subsp. mollicomata 'Borde Hill'. It's been written up in the March 17, 2010 Botany Photo of the Day. [Edited by wcutler 20100323]I'm sneaking in two blossom photos from the 'Borde Hill' tree, taken March 22.
Assorted Sec. Yulania species, from, of course eastern Asia - it being the David C. Lam Asian Garden. Among trees, these produce the most spectacular individual flowers of the whole year in our region. But these large, early flowers are subject to gales and frost - sheltered locations such as those provided by the wooded Lam garden site are required for satisfactory results. And plenty of room, on good deep soil. When planted in the open the display is often cut short or may be spoiled completely some years. The famous Magnolia sprengeri 'Diva', although a more winter hardy tree than related species is particularly limited in this respect: its ribbon-like tepals are impossibly prone to tossing about in the slightest breeze and tearing off well before they have completed their natural span. The U.S. National Arboretum hybrid 'Galaxy' is a superior substitute for most situations - and indeed appears to have become nearly a standard item at independent garden centers down here. Numbers of it have appeared on Seattle streets in recent years. http://www.usna.usda.gov/Newintro/galaxy.html
The magnolia in the centre of the first photo has a plaque with the name. I don't know what my problem was last year. It's Magnolia sprengeri 'Eric Savill', and it's starting to bloom.
Another bunch of magnolias are in bloom now. I was looking for M. Dawsoniana 'Barbara Cook'. I found a lot of others but not that one. My timing was good, though. I ran into Andy Hill, who led me to it. It turns out it was the one without a tag - Andy found the tag on the ground in the leaf litter.
There are either a lot of Magnolia Sargentiana in bloom in the garden, or else I kept running into the same ones. I think most of them were a lot bigger than this (tall trees, unlike the shrubby appearance of this), and not as densely branched. This one is at a sign for the Wilson Trail.
With those large, broad tepals it being a pure M. dawsoniana seems doubtful. Looks like a tall one in Loderi Valley at the Seattle arboretum that was tagged M. dawsoniana, wonder if it is the same introduction. Do not recall current labeling (if any), but the Seattle tree began to appear to belong to M. sargentiana var. robusta after a time. The M. sargentiana shown here would also belong to var. robusta and not the typical species, as understood by western authors in the past (don't remember current treatment in Flora of China). Later: Put link here to Yulania key in efloras online Flora of China, but when tested it produced an error message instead of the desired page.
Ron, are you talking about the 'Barbara Cook'? I didn't post any pure M. dawsoniana, though I think I saw one.
