Wednesday 10 April 2013

Mag-nificent

I have always assumed that this was a magnolia but I read somewhere that Magnolias are evergreens and these are definitely deciduous. I walked around my neighborhood recently and saw many different kinds, but most were deciduous, the few evergreen magnolias didn't show any sign of flowers.

I thought I should investigate a bit.


but first, we have had a lot of this recently,


and some wind, and even though there are still a lot of cherry blossoms on the trees, it has been snowing blossoms too.




This hedge has caught quite a few falling blossoms,


and many sidewalks and pathways are covered in a blanket of newly fallen blossoms. Ah, spring!



So to get back to Magnolias, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, there are both evergreen and deciduous varieties:

"Deciduous magnolias usually flower in spring before leaf emergence. Magnolia grandiflora (bull bay), the most commonly grown evergreen, flowers in flushes from summer until early autumn. In warm summers these can be followed by striking knobbly seedpods from which bright red seeds emerge in autumn."






Apparently the Magnolia is an ancient plant genus:

"Magnolia is an ancient genus. Appearing before bees did, the flowers evolved to encourage pollination by beetles. To avoid damage from pollinating beetles, the carpels of Magnolia flowers are extremely tough."
One or two of the flowers below has been damaged by the rain and wind, showing a cross section of the flower.



They get the name from French botanist Pierre Magnol.



In my stroll around the neighborhood I saw white ones, pink ones and purple ones. These beautiful white ones and delicate star-like ones are my favorite.












Here are white magnolias against a background of delicate pink cherry blossoms.




I encountered some evergreen magnolias too, but they were not showing any sign of flowering.

I saw a couple of shrubs with little yellow puffy flowers too, quite lovely but I don't know what they are.






I have been a bit under the weather this week, a little dose of food poisoning I think, but starting to feel better.

Here is a great video of an owl:


Here is a picture my pal Judy forwarded to me titled "owls in camouflage". I had to look quite closely, at first to see the owl.

http://salijoon.ws/

I did get some painting done though. Perhaps because of the abundant blossoms outside, this week I felt like painting flowers. This watercolour is named "In the Pink", it's a hydrangea:


For more details follow this link: GillianOlsonArt.blogspot.ca

Thanks for stopping by, Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week ......... 

18 comments:

  1. What gorgeous flowers and blooms! Beautiful photos!

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  2. This is a cheerful selection.

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  3. i think that's what i've seen called a 'tulip magnolia' vs. what we have here as a 'southern magnolia'. ours have huge big white blossoms whereas these delicate pink blooms are so pretty.

    loved the owl video - love those barred owls and their 'who cooks for you, who cooks for y'all?' call.

    the photo of the owl in camo didn't load for me.

    your painting is great. sorry about the food poisoning! yuck!

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  4. Oh my stars those I just love the photos of all those magnolia flowers. and the cherry tree blossoms gorgeous as well.. Thanks so much for sharing them with us. I do hope you are feeling better my friend.

    Love your painting..

    Hugs~

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  5. You have such a lovely variety of blossoms in bloom right now! And the magnolias are gorgeous!

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  6. Wow - stunning magnolia shots and lovely blossoms...

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  7. We have that yellow flower in the yard. Lovely blossoms shots! Hope I still see some when we go to Vancouver sometime this month.

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  8. Brilliant images, and the video, lovely Owl. And not at all, there is your painting, a great mind at work, beautiful.

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  9. Yes, definitely magnificent flowers - and your photos too! I only ever remember seeing the deciduous ones. I especially like the photos of all the fallen petals.

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  10. Before I forget, the yellow shrub is a Keria...I used to play with the blossoms when I was a kid...called them pompom flowers.

    Can't almost hardly wait for the mags to bloom up here.

    Jen

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  11. Great post and delightful shots of the flowers. We have both deciduous and evergreen magnolias where I live. The deciduous one you showed with the pink blossoms is called a tulip tree or Japanese Magnolia here but I stopped calling it a tulip tree after finding out in other places a totally different tree is called a tulip tree. I love your painting.

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  12. I always thought the pink flowers were tulip magnolias but I'm not certain!! I love this time of year when all the trees are blooming!!

    I hope you feel better, spring is a photographers dream come true. You don't want to miss a day!!

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  13. Sings of spring everywhere! All the magnolias are delightful.

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  14. Great shots of the explosion that is spring!

    Cheers

    Stewart M - Melbourne.

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  15. The magnolia flowers are lovely, some are out in full bloom like yours but others seemed to be just getting started. Such a fresh splash of colour at this time of year. Great post as usual.

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  16. Sorry to hear that you're under the weather but your trees sure are in fine form.. as is your camera and lovely artwork. Could not see your friend Judy's owl photo and the url just went to a very busy webpage. Always a lovely breath of fresh air when I stop by. Thank you for that.

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  17. A magnificent superabundance of blossom, Gillian. Your Spring seems more advanced than ours!

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  18. I'm loving the video. The Barred Owl is an incredible bird and like every owl, they are constantly chased by Jays, Ravens and Crows! That video is incredible. I so want to get out and see these birds in the wild. Haven't seen one yet:)

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