if that is feral.. i wondering what you think is wild ... lol ...

love to see a pic of the hydrenga also ... that wild beast ...

ken

Wild is the cattails that took over my little container pond. :)

Or perhaps the tree that I just realized probably shaded this little magnolia until we cut it waaaaay back last winter. Perhaps magnolias like sun!

Looks just like the magnolia my sister has in Santa Monica - so pretty!

Is there more than one variety of pink magnolia?

There are probably HUNDREDS of pink magnolia cultivars. Some are pure spiecies, lots more hybrids. This one is possibly one of the "Little Girl" series released by the U.S. Arboretum in the 1960's. They are complex hybrids (mostly M liliiflora x M. stellata) that were bred for floriferousness (is that a word? Spell-check hates it), later bloom to avoid frosts, and a propensity to re-bloom, albeit sparsely. Some of the cultivar names are: Jane, Ann, Susan, Betty, Judy (Judi?). There are more, not sure how many. They vary in habit from spreading, to vase-like, to upright. Since they were released over 50 years ago there's been plenty of time for yours to go "feral".

I just love that word, lol.

EDIT: I meant to say that if it IS one of the "Little Girls", it's been masterfully pruned, since they mostly tend to be multi-stemmed. And also, that many plants can be tricked by weather to re-bloom even when they don't normally. Here, it's not unheard of for Bradford pears (yuck) to bloom in late Fall, sometimes to such an extent that they DON'T bloom the next Spring, when they "should". And I have a species rhododendron that blooms again in autumn at least every other year, just in time for frost.

EDIT #2: Here's another thought. Depending on its size, it could be M. soulangeana (M. denudata × M. liliiflora). It tends to be a large tree with a single trunk. Here it's common to see older specimens reaching 25'x20'. And they are spectacular. But they are also very prone to frost damage since they bloom so early. In fact, the "Little Girl" series was bred specifically to give an alternative to this hybrid. It's lovely when it blooms, a tragic mess when frost-bitten.

Hehe. It's been masterfully pruned so that one may open and pass through the gate but one had best duck immediately after. :)

(There are many old shrubs/trees in the yard that seem to have been encouraged to be contorted or otherwise have interesting trunks.)

Is early March considered a late bloom? I don't know; we don't do winter here and nobody would plant specifically for a late frost. This tree is probably under 20 ft. and could well date to the 1960s.

I shouldn't call this tree feral. It's neglected and doing its own thing, but its thing is...well, not much. I don't think it even grows! (The hydrangea on the other hand is a little wild. The Mermaid rose that has replaced the back fence is an absolute terror...)