Here's a saucer magnolia after Tuesday night's snowfall.
When it's
leafed out, it looks like a giant shrub. Now that the leaves are gone, you can see that it's multi-stemmed.
The large hirsute (fuzzy) floral buds give this tree an interesting winter texture. You can see the crescent-shaped leaf scars directly below the buds.
Here is an infructescence from last summer minus the red seeds. Most of these empty fruiting bodies have fallen to the ground by now.
The saucer magnolia is one of the earliest blooming trees in the spring (which unfortunately makes the flowers susceptible to frost damage). The pink or purple and white flowers emerge before the leaves. The saucer magnolia was hybridized around 1820 by Etienne Soulange-Bodin, a French horticulturist. Hundreds of varieties of this hybrid exist today.
These buds have been getting bigger over the past couple of weeks, shedding layers in the process.
Last week I saw a handful of buds like this on each tree.
Now there are too many to count. Some buds even have little hairy leaves peeking out.
Foliage doesn't usually emerge until after full bloom, but the occasional renegade adds a refreshing bit of green to all the fuschia.
Here's a saucer magnolia after Tuesday night's snowfall. 
When it's leafed out, it looks like a giant shrub. Now that the leaves are gone, you can see that it's multi-stemmed.
The large hirsute (fuzzy) floral buds give this tree an interesting winter texture. You can see the crescent-shaped leaf scars directly below the buds. 
Here is an infructescence from last summer minus the red seeds. Most of these empty fruiting bodies have fallen to the ground by now.
The saucer magnolia is one of the earliest blooming trees in the spring (which unfortunately makes the flowers susceptible to frost damage). The pink or purple and white flowers emerge before the leaves. The saucer magnolia was hybridized around 1820 by Etienne Soulange-Bodin, a French horticulturist. Hundreds of varieties of this hybrid exist today.
This magnolia is covered with fuzzy buds,
a couple of these deep pink flowers,
and lots of giant green aggregate fruits. This fruit is about 5 inches long.
The tree is multi-stemmed, so it looks like a giant shrub.
