Magnolia flowers are back in bloom, putting on a magnificent display in gardens around the country
I saw my first magnolia flower of the season earlier this month, a solitary, ghostly-white, cup-shaped bloom unfurling high on the bare branches of a tree growing in a sheltered Dublin woodland garden. Defiantly beautiful on a cold and blustery day, it was a powerful sign that spring had finally arrived.
As a genus, it’s also bewilderingly complex to the point where taxonomists struggle to agree on the number of species of magnolia let alone the many hybrids. Even the story of its geographical origins is murky. The ancestors of the plants growing in Irish gardens today originated in parts of China, Japan, Korea and the US. But intriguingly magnolias were much more widespread in the very distant past before the Ice Age dramatically reduced their geographical range.
Until quite recently this species was the most widely cultivated garden magnolia in Ireland and is still often seen flowering in older suburban gardens at this time of year. However, its very spreading growth habit – which is only obvious as it matures – means that very harshly pruned specimens are also a common sight. A variable hybrid species, many different cultivars are available.
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