Magnolia Grandiflora

I once had a tree of Magnolia Grandiflora growing in my yard. Everything about this particular tree was unbelievably dramatic, opulent, sophisticated - from the deepest green satin leaves, to its golden velvet calyx which held most breathtaking and deeply sensuous, fragrant white perfect blossoms.

About eight years back, when I went scavenging for plants, seedlings, pods in the IISc quadrangle,  I found a tiny sucker growing next to a medium sized, but a non blooming Magnolia grandiflora tree. I brought it home,  with great care put it in a pot and kept it alive. Recently, after moving to my new home, I put the plant, still only a foot tall, into my sunlit yard. Over the last week, I have watched in excitement, a bud emerge tentatively, swell and break open - into a large and a perfect white flower. In an instant deja vu, I am transported into my youth of perfumed and starlit indigo nights, with walks along boulevards lined with ebony shadows and moon blossoms.


While no photograph can ever capture the touch, feel, smell or the soul of perfection, nonetheless, here are some images from a besotted gardener.

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