Trees on Tuesday

If you need a #trend for Tuesday, let’s draw our attention to something bigger and better than what’s trending in the airwaves. Let’s go all out and get to the crux of what makes or breaks a great planting, which often includes large nursery stock.

Visiting a nursery to look at trees might still be on your outdoor backburner, but to get you focused, here’s a rerun form March 2011 to remind you that Trees-R-Us. If you click on the link, it’s a few of our tree picks and a reminder to get first dibs on the best of the best specimen trees. Plus, it keeps in theme with yesterday’s topic, which if you missed it, here it is again. And as an added bonus, another favorite to the Trees-R-Us list – it’s one that makes it into most of our plantings. Why? Because everyone falls in love with it – it’s the Sweet Bay Magnolia.

The fragrance of a Sweet Bay Magnolia is the number one reason to plant this rare native. Depending on form, in the plant world it can be considered a large shrub (15-20 ft.) or an ornamental tree. In mild winters it can hold onto some of its leaves, making it a quasi semi-evergreen. Its glory though is its bloom cycle. The intoxicating fragrance of one blossom in a saucer of water can overwhelm a room; superior to any of those fake plug-in air fresheners.

Its perfect location is adjacent to a terrace or outside a window where everyone hangs out. You can plant its understory with medium to low-growing shrubs, herbaceous perennials and groundcovers, adding to this spectacular garden moment.

As Marion Woodman once said, “The longing for sweets is really a yearning for love or sweetness.” The Sweet Bay Magnolia is the perfect icing on the cake, especially after a long, cold winter.

Above excerpt on Sweet Bay Magnolia from our archived post, Have a Sweet Bay of a Day.

© Image by Greg Bilowz - Sweet Bay Magnolia Blossom 

Above excerpt on Sweet Bay Magnolia from our archived post, Have a Sweet Bay of a Day.

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