Magnolia acuminata

This, reader, is your first peek at where I am living now.   It is also the only peek you are gonna get of the grounds, as the lawn is ridiculously bad (and I don't really care about turf) and the plant collection is pretty typical.  But I did notice this specimen walking the other day and was excited to introduce to you (at least via this blog) Magnolia acuminata or Cucumbertree Magnolia. 

As a straight species found in its native habitat of the Appalachian, M. acuminata is not very showy.  It's one of the largest of the Magnolias and one of the most cold hardy, but the flowers are typically diminutive. Cultivars like this one have been bred for better display of the creamy yellow blossoms that occur in early/mid-spring.  A popular cultivar these days is 'Yellow Bird.'

It's called Cucumbertree Magnolia because the seed heads when they are still ripening, resemble cucumbers.  I'll try to be watchful for them on this specimen and share more photos then!

Vernal Resolutions!

So....

It's been a while.  I know.  And it's been such a fascinating spring, it's killed me that I haven't been blogging.

No excuses, simply an explanation:

I closed on a condo in February and have been deep in renovations, packing, moving and unpacking since early February.  I have had a ton of fun at it and have become pretty decent at wiring light fixtures, installing plumbing, demolishing tile, salvaging tile, installing baseboards, etc.  I'll post a few before, during and after images of my projects but for now I need to talk about THE WEATHER!

Goodness.  This week, I saw the following in bloom:

Daffodils
Tulips
Hyacinths*
Grape Hyacinths
Leucojum*
Scilla
Redbuds
Crabapples
Cherries
Plums
Dreaded Bradford Pears
Forsythia
Spiraea thunbergii
Star Magnolia
Saucer Magnolia
Witch Hazel
and Dogwoods are just about to open up!

It's pretty heady.  If you check out the links above - linking to PC and NYPAOS archives, you can see how typically there is a bit of breathing room from one flower display to the next.  But not this year.  (Of course many NYPAOS posts will run a bit behind what blooms here in DC.)

I'm not in full chicken little mode on this.  Yes, this weird weather is absolutely related to some degree with climate change, but I also think that flukes like this happen.  Selfishly I'm enjoying it, and as long as next year we are back to a slower pace for spring, I will be happy to enjoy this weather oddity.

There's been a lot of coverage about how quickly the flower shows come and go (indeed - my aunt is visiting this weekend and on Sunday we're supposed to see the Cherries and I only hope they'll still be here!), but what I'm most curious about is how this will affect summer flowering plants.  Plants that bloom after a required number of growing degree days maybe premature as well.  We could be seeing Oxydendron in May, or Lagerstroemia in June.  Which would, for me, be really weird!

I hope that now that most of my work on the condo is done and some key deadlines have been met, I will be able to blog on a more regular basis.  More to come!

*Guess I owe you posts on these plants!