A Wreath of Magnolia Leaves

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings said "The individual man is transitory, but the pulse of life and of growth goes on after he is gone, buried under a wreath of magnolia leaves." I suppose that's one reason to plant a tree - we may not ever see it reach its fullest potential but we know, or hope, that others will enjoy their shade, their flower or fruit.

As a final gesture to 2013, our first year at Shared Plough, K and I planted a Southern Magnolia in the pasture. We'd like to screen the farmhouse from the road a bit and the large, slightly cupped leaves can soften traffic noise, not that we have much of a problem with that out here. Magnolias can be a bit of a mess. They shed leaves most of the year. We planted our new tree in the northwest corner of the pasture where it can spread out and drop all of the leaves it wants.

We planted a 'Little Gem' Magnolia. It's a dwarf but I've seen some mighty big ones. I imagine ours will top out around 35 feet or so. Considering the champion standard Magnolia is 122 feet, 35 feet is dwarf indeed.

Magnolias were among the earliest of flowering plants. Their flowers evolved before bees and butterflies existed so they rely on beetles to do the work. The seeds are eaten by squirrels, possums, quail and turkeys. We sometimes see the turkeys in the pasture so maybe they'll visit a bit more often now. I've heard that the bark is fire resistant - hopefully we won't need to worry about that - and that the taproot makes it less prone to damage by the hurricanes that can be troublesome in their favorite haunts along the gulf coasts. Sounds like a survivor, alright.

On an overcast and chilly New Year's Day, our new tree seems pretty much at home now. We'll look forward to watching it grow and mature and we'll certainly enjoy cutting some flowers for the house through the summer months. They smell like gin-and-tonics to me.

Who knows? Maybe one day we'll rest under a wreath of its leaves.