Featured Plant

Ernest Wilson, an intrepid botanical explorer of China in the early years of the twentieth century, called China the "Mother of Gardens." One of the areas he knew well was the southwestern Province of Yunnan, meaning "South to the Clouds." Half of all the plants in China grow here. Part of the Tibetan Plateau at 10,000 feet occupies the northwest, and to the south the Himalayas' deep mountain valleys and large rivers run parallel from north to south. The great variety of elevations and the moisture and shelter of the mountains all contribute to this amazing botanical wonderland. Magnolia laevifolia along with 26 other kinds of Magnolias hail from this region.

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Magnolia laevifolia is a small tree with buds that form in the leaf axils and along the stem, an unusual feature of this family. Other charms are its golden-brown bud scales in fall and winter, which in spring give way to ivory, chalice-like flowers with "butter-yellow stamens, like lashes opening to the sun." This month we feature a cultivar of M. laevifolia: 'Strybing Compact'. It has a compact shrubby habit compared to the species. While in bloom, it is so blanketed with white flowers that the leaves are barely visible from a distance.