Like possums all over a tree the softest furry flower buds imaginable are protected all winter long for months and months, just waiting to develop into a magnificent flower of extreme beauty.
Magnolias across the county are helping to wake up sleepy National Trust Cornish gardens, its pink petals unfurling and reaching up towards the sunshine.
Mike Beeston, Gardens and Park Consultant for the National Trust, comments ‘Finally you can feel the days are getting longer and a bit warmer. It’s the perfect time to visit one of our gardens and see these majestic botanical wonders. All winter long, the naked trees monitor the day length and temperature through their bark, helping to keep the flowers safe until the conditions allow them to flower. I have a feeling that the fabled magnolia, is one of those rare plants that could benefit from some warmer springs due to climate change.’
Trelissick
There are a large range of magnolia species and hybrids at Trelissick, not just the deciduous trees but also a small collection of evergreens. The garden team have added many to the collection in the last 20 years concentrating on an area within the garden called Carcaddon, which is a small arboretum in the main garden.
The first to flower is an old Magnolia campbellii on the edge of the main lawn and the back of a large herbaceous border. This generally comes into flower in January and has even been spotted in December, which is quite early for this species, but it’s beauty very much depends on the weather at the time.
Towards the end of February some of the other larger Magnolias, M. dawsoniana and M. campbellii ‘Mollicomata’ will start to flower and are well established trees. They can be spectacular if the weather is kind and covered with large pink flowers.
There is also some of our own Magnolias that were named seedlings in the garden.
One of them is M. Trelissick Alba, which despite its name is actually pink. When it first flowered in the late 70s it was named Trelissick Alba by a previous head gardener, as it looked white from a distance but as it has matured it has become more and more pink each year.
March is the best time to see Trelissick’s collection of Magnolias, but the flowering season continues until April and sometimes there’s a second flush in May and June.
Glendurgan
‘Glendurgan’s Magnolia collection is one of the real crowning features of the garden in Spring.
A statuesque Magnolia campbellii ‘Alba’ crowns the corner of the historic maze in a flurry of huge white blooms in early to mid-March. This is kept company by a younger Magnolia campbellii ‘Sidbury’ which provides contrasting pink blooms, at the same time, in its canopy that is now reaching to meet with its older neighbour.
One of the most impressive Magnolias the team of gardeners grow, is a stunning specimen of Magnolia x veitchii ‘Peter Veitch’, which towers on a bank above the maze with exotic Canary Island Date Palms at its feet, flowering later on in March.
Cherry Orchard is graced with many different Magnolias which are also a riot of colour later in March. Here they grow near enough each other that views across the valley can be glimpsed, showing off the contrasting pinks and whites with a carpet of meadow and Primroses below.
You can spot flowers on some trees as early as January so it really does depend on the weather quite significantly. Spring is a wonderful time to be at Glendurgan, but there are also some very exciting Magnolia specimens you can expect to see flowering later than spring and into summer for the more botanically interested.
Trengwainton
There are camellias all year round at Trengwainton so when the garden reopens in February, we expect to see plenty of these in bloom along with swathes of cheerful snowdrops lining the paths.
Of all the different plants from around the world here though, the most dramatic surely has to be the magnolias, which start in February and peak in March. There are around thirty throughout the garden and their big waxy flowers in shades of pink, white and magenta look incredible set against blue skies.
The most spectacular of these is the towering 104-year-old Magnolia Campbellii in the walled garden – an English Champion tree due to the width of its canopy.
Lanhydrock
Lanhydrock is famous for its collection of magnolias, with over 120 separate varieties growing in the garden. With mild, wet conditions and free draining soil, the gardens at Lanhydrock suit magnolias well, with multiple and sometimes rare species planted and cared for by generations of gardeners, notably by Head Gardener Peter Borlase, whose enthusiasm for magnolias saw over 100 planted between 1970-1993.
If there’s a mild winter, a magnolia can be found flowering in every month of the year. From early February, the giant Magnolia Campbelli begins to flower, with large, vibrant, pink blooms. This tree was planted by Lord Clifden, a keen amateur gardener who indulged his hobby with the help of his head gardener James Hawken, in the 1930s and now reaches over 25m high. Magnolia Veitchii Isca flowers next, which was cultivated by Exeter-based plant collector Peter Veitch for its long leaves and abundant white flowers.
As with much of gardening, the weather plays a huge part in when the magnolias flower, but the best displays at Lanhydrock can usually be seen at the end of March and into early April. There are magnolias to be found all over the garden but are particularly spectacular around the Thatched Cottage and Borlase Stream, with highlights including the magnificent magnolia arch, which visitors can walk through to access the upper garden, and the magnolia glade.
Among the abundant varieties of magnolia at Lanhydrock are several rare and interesting magnolias. The Magnolia Grandiflora growing against the south facing wall in the forecourt of the house is believed to be the oldest magnolia in the collection and is found in the wild in the southeast states of the USA. This is a late-flowering species that bursts into bloom in the summer and then continues to flower all the way through to Christmas.
Magnolias Lanhydrock, Peter Bolase and Albertross were all cultivated at Lanhydrock by the Lanhydrock gardeners and registered with the International Magnolia Society in 1992. Magnolia Lanhydrock first flowered in 1980 with striking, deep pink blooms that make it easy to spot in the garden even from the surrounding parkland. Magnolia Peter Bolase flowers in an unusual patterned rose colour and can be seen near the Thatched Cottage, while Magnolia Albertross is covered in large, pure white flowers for a short period in early spring.
With such a broad range of varieties and the length of the flowering season at Lanhydrock, the magnolia displays in the garden, though weather dependant, are a spectacular sight throughout spring.
There’s more information on Magnolia Albertross, which is a super rare species that was accidentally cultivated here in the 70s.
Photo credit: National Trust Marina Rule
