Star Magnolia

Magnolia Stellata or Star Magnolia

Back in the day and that day was most likely sometime in 1977 or 1978. Lets see.....We bought the house in 1976, there was a gravel drive with a narrow planting bed that was filled with dead zinnias running between the house and the drive.

They were dead because it was October 31st. Once the dead zinnias were grubbed out, I let the long narrow bed sit empty imagining what would look best.

I settled on eight little one gallon sized Star Magnolias. They looked bigger in the pots, but once in the ground they looked so small.

MeMa was pregnant with our second son and  posed for a photo standing next to my row of star magnolias.

A couple of years later we hired a company to install a tile roof on our house. I was just getting ready to leave for work and told the roofers that this row magnolias was very important to me and please be very careful of them as they worked above them. That night I got home and MeMa met me with tears in her eyes telling me that the roofers dropped tiles down on all but the front Magnolia.

That lone survivor was the first of many plants to be planted at Menagerie Manor. In the spring the fragrance is intoxicating and in summer it shades the front porch from the hot afternoon sun.