One of the most amazing flowers in the garden is Magnolia Grandiflora – the one that the paint colour gets its name from. 

Magnolia Grandiflora

 The blooms are absolutely sumptuous and are almost twelve inches across.  The downside to this plant is the size it can grow to.  My brother has one that must be at least 60 ft high.  Bearing this in mind, and knowing that my garden could not possibly cope with a tree of that scale, I have been pruning it for a number of years now. 

So far, it still looks reasonable in my small garden, but I guess that in a few years I will have to give up the delight of its flowers and consign the plant to the shredder.  But for now I just marvel at the short lived flower and wait for the next bud to burst forth.