Friday, April 10, 2009

My Magnolia


Magnolia the tree is much more interesting and colourful than that much favoured ubiquitous bland paint colour which is named after it. My magnolia, got as a 60th birthday present, is thriving and has produced its typical saucer flowers each spring. This is Magnolia Soulangiana or Soulangeana which its container told me will grow to 4 metre high.

Wikipedia entry here and information about French botanist Pierre Magnol after whom magnolias are named here. More information here, here and here.

A magnolia poem here, which was displayed on buses in Seattle apparently. However it is the state of Mississippi, USA, which is called the “Magnolia State” because of the abundance of magnolia flowers and trees in the state. The magnolia is the official state flower and the official state tree.

Charley Patton (1891 – 1934) the "Father of the Delta Blues" recorded the song Magnolia Blues in 1929. Listen here.

No comments: