April 29, 2009

Magnolia soulangeana - frost protected in April

When I saw for the first time a Magnolia soulangeana old tree in bloom, I have had hard time believing it is real tree and real blossom. For 2 weeks in April it is covered with big, rosy-pink, waxy-looking blooms. These are followed by handsome, shiny-green leaves.
Despite of what you may read sometimes in Internet, rosy-pink flowers of M. soulangeana are not fragrant.
Unfortunately in April there may still come freezing nights - this is what we have experienced few days ago. Frost is damaging these beautiful, tulip-looking flowers.
In order to protect it from damage, we covered the tree for 3 the nights. In the evening covering, in the morning taking off the cover. It was possible, because tree is still not large. At the age of 5-6 years, it is about 2 m tall.




Magnolia soulangeana is a gray-barked hybrid between the lily magnolia and the yulan magnolia with different flowers colors that may be white, pink, crimson, or purplish.

2 comments:

Kylee Baumle said...

We have a lot of these magnolias here, too, and they are just finishing up their blooming. Same problem that you have - late frosts sometimes will ruin the blooms. This year, my 'Leonard Messel' and 'Jane' were both lovely. I did have to cover them a couple of nights, but it was worth it!

Your gardens are so gorgeous, Ewa!

Alison said...

This is one of my favorite trees in my landscape. They have such beautiful flowers. I lost all the flowers on my Magnolia Soulangeana this year due to the late frosts that we had. They froze and turned brown on the branch. I was so disappointed! Mine is now much too large to cover.

KEEP READING - MORE GREAT STUFF IN OLDER POSTS