Several weeks ago, as I was prepping for a local shade tree tour, one of the tour organizers sent me a picture of a \u201cmystery tree\u201d that was growing on private property on our chosen route.\u00a0 The picture showed little, except very large green leaves.\u00a0 I thought the tree might be some kind of catalpa, a genus that features impressive foliage, except that catalpa leaves are usually heart-shaped and the picture did not seem to show that.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t see the tree in person until I was actually on the tour and accompanied by about twenty-five enthusiastic tree lovers.\u00a0 When I saw the \u201cmystery tree\u201d, a voice in my head said \u201cmagnolia\u201d, but did not specify a species.\u00a0 There are a large number of magnolia species in commerce, and an even larger number of cultivars, so identification beyond the genus level can sometimes be a challenge.\u00a0 Clearly the voice in my head was not up to it.<\/p>\n
I was saved by the homeowner, who emerged from the house behind the \u201cmystery tree\u201d just as our group was passing.\u00a0 She indentified the tree as a \u201ccucumber magnolia\u201d or Magnolia acuminata, a species that is native to the eastern United States and hardy in my USDA Zone 7a locale, but not common.\u00a0 The last one I saw was at the historic Bartram\u2019s Garden outside of Philadelphia.\u00a0 At the time, in 2009, the tree was almost 170 years old.\u00a0 Sadly, it was toppled by a sudden, severe storm the following year.\u00a0 \u201cSic transit gloria mundi,\u201d as they say\u2014So passes the glory of this world.<\/p>\n
Sometimes known as \u201ccucumber tree\u201d, the cucumber magnolia got its nickname from the bumpy, seed cones, which, in their green, juvenile state reminded some fanciful individual of cucumbers.\u00a0 The supersize leaves are generally elliptical and can grow up to ten inches long and half as wide.\u00a0 The trees themselves may boast equally impressive dimensions.\u00a0 Left to their own devices, they grow fifty to eighty feet tall, with a pyramidal form.\u00a0 Clearly it is a tree to be reckoned with and planted in spaces that can accommodate its mature dimensions.\u00a0 This may be why my suburb is not home to more cucumber trees.<\/p>\n
Like many magnolias, the cucumber has showy, fragrant flowers, which might remind you of the similar blossoms of the related tulip tree or Liriodendron tulipifera.\u00a0 Borne in late spring, they are goblet-shaped and normally pale greenish in color.\u00a0 The only problem is that the flowers appear high on the tree and are often camouflaged by the large leaves, especially in the early spring, when those leaves are clad in fresh green.<\/p>\n
That pale green color may not help onlookers who want to celebrate the flowers, but it has proved useful to plant breeders who have long searched for a yellow-flowered magnolia.\u00a0 A smaller, somewhat bushy Magnolia acuminata variety, subcordata, was crossed with a white-flowered Chinese species, Yulan magnolia or Magnolia denudata.\u00a0 The offspring of these crosses included some of the best yellow-flowered magnolias on the market.\u00a0 In my own backyard, one of these cucumber\/Yulan children, \u2018Elizabeth\u2019 produces scores of tulip-shaped, butter yellow flowers each spring on a tall, relatively compact tree. It is inspiring to stand within site of the tree late in the day and see the sun shining through the yellow petals.<\/p>\n
Cucumber magnolias boast distinguished historical connections, including one to Thomas Jefferson, who once requested some young plants from pioneering nurseryman John Bartram, in whose garden I met my first cucumber tree. \u00a0Bartram also sent seeds to friends in England, who introduced the tree there to great acclaim. Jefferson went on to plant acuminata seeds in his Monticello nursery in 1810.\u00a0 I do not know for certain, but I\u2019ll wager there are cucumber magnolias still growing at Monticello.<\/p>\n
Even when cucumber magnolia trees die, they live on in fine-grained wood that is often transformed into boxes, furniture or carved sculptures.\u00a0 The silver lining in the cloud that enveloped Bartram\u2019s Garden after the great storm of 2010 was partly attributed to the fact that the wood of the downed cucumber tree was transformed into sculptures by over 40 artists, all of whom paid homage, in one way or another, to John Bartram. The sculptures were exhibited at a Philadelphia gallery in 2014.<\/p>\n
I already have one magnolia on my property and there is hardly room for another rose bush, let alone something as majestic as a cucumber magnolia.\u00a0 \u00a0Even though I can\u2019t satisfy my acquisitive nature, I take comfort in the fact that since solving the riddle of the \u201cmystery tree\u2019s\u201d origins, I at least know where to find one the next time I need a dose of magnolia inspiration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Several weeks ago, as I was prepping for a local shade tree tour, one of the tour organizers sent me a picture of a \u201cmystery tree\u201d that was growing on private property on our chosen route.\u00a0 The picture showed little, except very large green leaves.\u00a0 I thought the tree might be some kind of catalpa, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[687,1380,1502,688,1057,685,1026,1503,1504,988,1505],"class_list":["post-1971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bartrams-garden","tag-cucumber-magnolia","tag-cucumber-tree","tag-flowering-trees","tag-historic-trees","tag-john-bartram","tag-landscape-trees","tag-magnolia-acuminata","tag-magnolias","tag-native-trees","tag-yellow-flowered-magnolias"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1972,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971\/revisions\/1972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}