I would never have chosen to plant a Magnolia Grandiflora so near my house. Southern Magnolias are magnificent trees, when I see them on someone else’s property. And besides, I’m not fond of the hokey reverence for the Old South, where one thinks of belles in hoop skirts and dashing gentlemen mixing juleps, not people bought and sold like livestock.
But I also cannot bear to cut down Blanche DuBois, as I have come to call this tree. She’s a messy beauty, never picking up after herself, clogging downspouts, and casting a shadow over everything so dense as to exclude other lesser plants.
Thus Blanche is a Southern Belle with issues, like her namesake. When the illusion of control for gardeners is most complete, in early Spring, she begins shedding leaves. And shedding leaves. And shedding leaves.
By early June, Blanche is done with her little pity-party and she explodes into blossom. Then we are back to enjoying her for another nine months.
My paganism keeps me from firing up the chainsaw, so here are a few tips if you too have to deal with your own Drama Queen of a tree, some advice:
- Rake up the leaves weekly and mow them when you cut grass. The leathery leaves are very slow to decompose otherwise. When chopped, however, they make a decent mulch.
- Lift up her skirt! Blanche was not that modest, despite her pretensions. Just don’t be a Stanley Kowalski about it. Approach the Magnolia gently and remove the lowest limbs that droop down so you get some light under the tree. I tend to make this a mulch island using the chopped leaves.
- Enjoy the other nine months, because Magnolia blossoms floated in a bowl of water are lovely and fragrant, and the sprays of green are handsome in deep winter. I cut a few and bring them inside in the dark half of the year.
- Learn what Magnolia Grandiflora teaches us about how some trees develop; she looks like a deciduous tree yet sheds like a pine. Her behavior, all about herself and not about we tidy humans, puts us in our place because it shows us how temporary the order of a garden can be.
Mix a julep and go enjoy her company this summer. Burdock’s Julep Recipe (per drunkard):
- 1/4 cup simple syrup, chilled
- 2 oz Bourbon, chilled
- 2 big sprigs of mint, bruised by rubbing in your palms
Combine syrup and whiskey in a glass and mix. Add mint springs to Julep cup and add crushed ice. Pour syrup-Bourbon mixture over ice and mint, stir, and enjoy.
Hint: I don’t use my single-barrels for this. I employ a common Bourbon that Stanley would belt down during poker night.
Tags: nativeplants, woodwork