Wednesday, June 17, 2009

My magnolia tree is a pain in the ass

Uh oh, I said a bad word again.
And didn't I say that about BS a couple days ago?
Yep, I did.
My hindparts have been sore lately, huh?

Objectively speaking, my magnolia tree is a magnificent specimen.
It is huge, of a size rather unusual in a residential neighborhood, and quite showy.

But a pain in the ass.

The Magnolia grandiflora is the archetype of the grand old south.
It oozes images of antebellum gentility.
It has Tara written all over it.

It also oozes crap all over the yard, and this is crap season.
The leaves are thick, tough, and leathery.
You can't mulch them, and they NEVER break down.

The seed pods are large and hard . . .

(no, I won't go there. My mother reads this)

. . . but they are difficult to avoid during mowing,
and when I do run over one,
it sounds like gunshots under the deck of the mower.



BUT . . .

In the dead of winter, it's glossy greenness is a bright spot of cheer
amidst the brown & bare branches of its deciduous cousins.
My neighbors will come clip leaves to use in their Christmas decorating,
(because they last pretty much FOREVER).

In the summer, it provides shade like no other tree I have (and I have a LOT of trees),
much to my neighbor's delight.

When I go outside during it's blooming season,
the air is redolent with its special sweetness.
And when the blooms fall off and I mow them up,
the fragrance permeates my yard.





I can put my chair under its branches
(which swoop lower to the ground every year)
and have a secluded, cool, green haven to watch the neighborhood go by on a warm evening.
If I look up, the sunlight trickles through to paint dappled pictures at my feet.



Did I mention that I love this tree?

7 comments:

Sista G said...

Great picture of the bloom with little dewdrops on it! Also, Rootie, you have a marvelous way with words and expressions and the ability to create visual images with them.

CU this weekend! LU
Sista

Kathy said...

Why thankee Sista!. They are not dewdrops - it had rained buckets that day.

I want of get some pictures of it when the sky is blue and the grass is mowed.

Anonymous said...

You need to buy a nice Nikon and use it for your artsy-fartsy illustrations. I'd be happy to show you how to use it. Sista is right - you have a good eye and use words in a delicate way (when you're not cussing like a sailor). ;-)
RAD

Kathy said...

RAD, I hardly ever cussed back in the day, did I?

Can't do the fancy camera. I'm on a mission to see what kind of good pictures I can take with just one click.

Anonymous said...

Kathy, you were a sweet little petunia when I knew you back in the day...although you hung out with some shady dudes. ;-)
There is a nice, little Nikon point-and-shoot that would still fit that your self-imposed limitations (Nikon P6000). I own one of them and love it. AND it gives you images that can be fine-tuned much better than your JPGs.
RAD

Hairball T. Hairball said...

Magnolia trees are lovely, as long as they are in someone else's yard!

No Time Machine said...

Helloo mate great blog