For my birthday this year, Stephen took me on a surprise excursion to the New York Botanical Garden, where the magnolias were 100-percent in bloom. And not I'm saying that in the way people throw around '100-percent' these days in casual conversation; the NYBG has an actual percentage system, and on the day we went, magnolias were at 100, while cherry blossoms (not pictured) were at 40. Sometimes the timing is perfect, and you get 100 percent.
Not that it needs to be choice, but if pressed to pick a day on which to go 100 percent, I'd probably choose magnolias over cherry blossoms. There's something deliciously exhausted about the large, floppy flower petals of the magnolia blossoms, like they had to drag themselves out of bed after a glamorous night on the town. I want to hear all their gossip.
As we approached the magnolia section, I overheard a tour guide explaining that magnolias were named after the Grateful Dead song, "Sugar Magnolia" a French botanist named Pierre Magnol.
According to Wikipedia: Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 to 340 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol. Magnolia is an ancient genus. Appearing before bees evolved, the flowers are theorized to have evolved to encourage pollination by beetles.
I love looking at their gnarled branches.
It's hard to believe that nature decided to give us another spring, after everything we've done to it.
The magnolias are a doorway to another world.
Please, we said, take us with you :)
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