Fenny Drayton

[poliphilo]

We left the battlefield, heading west. The village of Fenny Drayton has no connection (that I know of) with the Wars of the Roses, but we made a detour because the name is so pretty and the sun was shining. We weren't disappointed.

Ah, the magnolia tree! 

And the local sandstone! Some of it pink , some of it green...

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've just looked up magnolia in Richard Mabey's magnificent Flora Britannica and he doesn't list it, which must mean it isn't a native species.

I'm not surprised.

Where does it originate, then?

[jenny_evergreen]

From googling:
The genus Magnolia contains about 80 species native to: North America [8], West Indies [8], and Asia [50].

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Wow. 80 species....

I did wonder whether it was an American native. I sort of associate it with the deep south.

[intotheraw.livejournal.com]

The magnolias here (I am in Iowa, in the middle of America) look similar to the one in the photograph, though they are a bit more pink in color. Down south (remember the film Steel Magnolias?) they range in size and color, with flower blossoms as large as my head, and colors so deep and richly pink that the white edging is almost lost.

I am trying to put a magnolia in my front garden.

These photos are lovely.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, it's probably because of that movie that I associate magnolias with the south.

It's a wonder they grow so well here- in our mild, rainy climate.

[jenny_evergreen]

Me, too. I suppose it got brought over from Asia in ancient times. :)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the first Americans carried cuttings with them when they crossed over into Alaska...