Any Day Now

We'll be inundated with lovely pink and white flowers. Here in Idaho, for obvious meteorological reasons, we don't have the majestic Magnolias of the south with their impressive white blossoms but we do have a smaller species and to tell the truth I'm not sure if it's classified as a tree or a shrub.

Anyway, when we planted our pair five seasons ago, the guy at the nursery tolds us that it will take a good three seasons for them to establish and then they'd either flourish or die. So, last spring we anxiously watched our Magnolias and noted a handful of buds (which was more than previous years so we were hopeful) but a late freeze took care of any spectacular display.

Last summer we decided to increase the 'drip area' at the base of the Magnolias, nearly doubling the area, and replacing the landscaping stone with cedar mulch. The effect was almost immediate - within 2-3 weeks new blossoms were flourishing -we had maybe a dozen on each tree where at most we'd seen a few. Mr. CJ thought this was just a coincidence but I was sure it was the direct result of the new environment.

This spring we have so many buds, almost too numerous to count, on the trees so I guess it's safe to say we're in the flourish stage.