Monday, May 4, 2009

Elisabeth Magnolia

Elisabeth magnolia at the Morton Arboretum in the Sunday morning sunlight!




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6 comments:

Gene said...

I think the Elizabeth is an accuminata cross... I have tried to grow it without success. I have a half dozen 2 year olds in my back yard. Unimpressive.

May 4, 2009 at 8:45 PM
Chuckles said...

Our magnolia blossomed a few days ago and it was the first time we'd ever seen it do that (usually gone back to KC by now). The bloom was huge. And fragrant. And short-lived. It is all brown and droopy today. About the way I feel...

May 4, 2009 at 9:09 PM
Gene said...

I know this is a detail, but I care about plants. The Elizabeth is a beautiful plant. That's why i try to grow it. What's unimpressive is my ability to get them to prosper.

I would never degenerate a plant. ;-))

All are beautiful in some way. If dandelions were as rare as Orchids we would cross and breed them with great care. It's not the plant that's the problem, it's the relative perceived surplus of them that make people think they are weeds.

May 7, 2009 at 7:50 AM
goprairie said...

I know this is a detail but I care about words.

I think you mean "denigrate" as in "to attack the character or reputation of; speak ill of; defame, to disparage; belittle."

"Degenerate" is typically used as an adjective, not a verb the way you have used it, as in "having declined, as in function or nature, from a former or original state: a degenerate form of an ancient folk art."
Tho in your case you got the concept right, as I bleive that perhaps Elizabeth, as stunningly beautiful as her flowers are, might be a degenerate form of the plant that has lost some vigor due to being selelcted only for the soft glowing yellow of the flower petals and no other character that might make it hardy and physically sturdy.

So I think you got the word wrong, but you might have also found just the right word.

May 7, 2009 at 8:45 AM
goprairie said...

And all three of those big leafed fragrant twigged ones I hounded you to find me have perished. I think they are just not truly hardy here. We want more magnolias so very badly, but when we try to bring things in from, well, anywhere, they disappoint. Why do we like those huge flowers with their thick translucent waxy petals and their magnified sculptural center? In the flower world, it must be like the models in Victoria's Secret. It is like cross-species soft porn, isn't it?

May 7, 2009 at 8:49 AM
Gene said...

I know but they are worth trying. The accuminata (cucumber magnolia) which is a parent of Elizabeth is fully hardy almost into Minnesota.

I would be surprised if the M. Virginia are dead. I took some from the same batch and planted them right out in the open at the Church and I have one in my front yard. They are doing OK. So, Don't dig them up. They are famous for coming from the roots. But it is hard.

There is a nursery called cucumber tree nursery in Wisconsin that specializes in the species and cultivars of the accuminata magnolia. You could plant some of them around your cabin. They are in Blanchford wi.

Don't give up on these. We had a really rough winter and lots of things died. Look at how badly the forsythia bloomed. COLD.

So, don't give up yet.

You were right about the word. Spell checker and I didn't check.

May 7, 2009 at 2:43 PM

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