Magnolias are majestic and magnificent. I love magnolias!

 

Magnolias usually appear in late March in north Florida, fading by June. The sensual blooms suggest both passion and fragility, turning brown as they age. These magnolias come from my daughter’s garden.

 

 

Beth Ann Fennelly, poet and novelist, describes the magnolia flower emerging from bud to bloom.

In her collectionΒ Tenderhooks, a poem featuringΒ the magnolia is tinted with cultural influences, both European and Asian.

 

Frances Mayes, in her memoir Under Magnolia set in south Georgia, uses the flower in both title and as metaphor in her text.Β Here is my review.

 

Magnolias are part of current pop culture too. Joanna Gaines, star of HGTV’s Fixer Upper, uses the magnolia in her marketing strategy: name of her market, magazine, and product motif.

In her memoir, The Magnolia Story, she explains how magnolia buds epitomize her life path:

Nowadays when I think about the name Magnolia, I think about it in terms that refer to much more than the blossoming of our business. I think about buds on the tree, and how they really are just the tightest budsβ€”they look like rocks, almost and I feel like when Chip and I met, that tight little bud was me. I was risk averse, and in some ways, I don’t think I saw the beauty or the potential in myself. Then I wound up with Chip Gaines and . . . . Β  Β  181

 

Magnolias and a theme of my memoir manuscript

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Β  Β  ~ Anais Nin

 

Tulip magnolia tree in our neighborhood just about to bloom in Florida, early February

 

 


 

What blooms do you look forward to spotting in springtime? In summer?

 

Can you identify with the quote by Anais Nin? Have you observed this development in others?