Favorite Things Thursday: Saucer Magnolias

We bought our house in October 2008.  It was autumn, and not much was blooming.  The next spring I was delighted to find that an ugly, wiry tree in the backyard grows gorgeous fuchsia blooms.  I had never seen anything like them, and it took some digging to find out what kind of tree we had on our hands.  Even now, when people ask what kind of tree it is and I tell them, they say, "That can't be right.  I've never heard of such a thing."

Living in South Carolina, most people, unless they live under a rock, are familiar with Southern Magnolia Trees.  They look like this:

courtesy of the Arbor Day Foundation

Although it is the most popular, most of the people that visit my house (and myself), had never seen a Saucer Magnolia before one started blooming in the backyard of my new home.  Many people mistake it for a Tulip Tree, but it isn't.  It has many names... Saucer Magnolia, Japanese Magnolia, and Soulangiana Magnolia.  The blooms are gorgeous and it's so lovely to look out the window at my happy tree.  Today was rainy, but the backyard is still bright and cheerful.  It started blooming in late February this year.  I am praying that we don't have a late frost that will kill it.  Take a look!