Magnolia Magic

This Magnolia is in flower outside the house now. They are so vibrant and joyful as they flower. The flower buds look small and furry and how the enormous blousy flower grows from such a small bud is amazing. They are not long lasting and fall apart after a week or two into a papery mess, like a New York city ticker tape parade. The petals get blown around in the wind and lie strewn around the garden.

The inside of the magnolia is magnificent. The Red and Orange stamen/lime green filaments look like an alien. This will turn into a seed pod I imagine if the flower is pollinated. I read that the Magnolia has been about as a species longer than Bee's. It made the centre bit tough for beetles to pollinate it without damaging it. The photographed plant only had two flower buds that formed. There is one left now, the second one fell to bits after it was photographed.
There are a lot of different Magnolias in flower around Wakefield in shades of whites and pinks. They offer a splash of magic for a week or so in late April/Early May.
We hung curtains today in the new house. Its amazing how homely a place looks once you put a pair of curtains up on an otherwise sparse window. In a weeks time we will have officially moved into the new house. I was imagining a pair of small trees in the front garden (which is just grass at the moment). We have a Magnolia in a pot but it is still very small, maybe in a few years it will bloom for us in the new house.