Magnolias | Flatbush Gardener

Magnolia stellata, Star Magnolia

The flower above is one of thousands that are now opening in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Magnolia Plaza. With warmer temperatures expected today and the next few days, this weekend and next week will be a spectacular time to visit. Even the flowers still in bud can’t wait to join the stage.

In a comment on my Facebook status update for this post, Dr. Susan Pell notes:

Actually, the Magnolia zenii blooms first at BBG [not M. stellata, as I had written], but it’s in the back corner of the Discovery Garden so most people over 3′ tall miss it.

Most of the Magnolias will follow M. stellata, Star Magnolia, in quick succession. Sometimes the bloom on a tree lasts only a week, depending on the weather. You should visit in person at least once over the next three weeks. But this year, for the first time even distant visitors will have a chance to witness the parade of bloom, thanks to one of Dave Allen’s time-lapse videos, now in the process off being captured.

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Judith D. Zuk Magnolia Plaza, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Check out the photo above, and select the largest size your bandwidth and screen size can handle. Place yourself in that picture, take a deep breath, and imagine the fragrance that saturated the air: a mix of citrus and spice, light, not heavy or thick, that clears the sinuses and the mind.

The Magnolia Plaza doesn’t get much better than it was when I saw it this past Saturday. A textbook sky, a warm, Spring day, the majority of the species and varieties of Magnolias in the plaza just coming into peak, with barely a dropped petal to be seen anywhere.

From BBG’s Web site:

From March-blooming star magnolias (Magnolia stellata) to saucer magnolias (M. x soulangiana) in April, Magnolia Plaza is sweetly scented with 17 varieties.

Magnolia stellata, Star Magnolia

Magnolia kobus

Magnolia, unrecorded variety

Magnolia Plaza is an elegant formal garden of magnificent trees spread in front of the beaux arts Administration Building. The sweet scent and showy blossoms of magnolias are among the early signs of spring at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In March, the star magnolias (Magnolia stellata) bloom, covering the trees with millions of lacy white flowers. In April the Plaza is splashed with the ivory, yellow, pink, and rich purple of 17 varieties of magnolias. The last of the collection, the sweet-bay magnolia (M. virginiana), reveals its fragrant, creamy white flowers in June.

Magnolia Plaza, with the landmark BBG Lab & Admin Building