When I moved into our house, there was one small tree I didn’t recognize, and a few other shrubs I wasn’t sure on. Eight years ago when I was taking a class on woody plant identification, I probably would have had no problem. But that was eight years ago, and plant ID is something I lose a bit if I’m not interacting with the plants. I wasn’t too worried about the identity of the plants–I knew they would revel itself later on with some identifying trait.

The first shrub to get a positive ID was a forsythia. Although it has a horrible haircut, it put on a wonderful display of yellow blossoms.

Next up was the small tree. This was one of the best surprises, as one afternoon I looked out and saw huge buds on the tree. I had a magnolia! I have always loved the bloom of a magnolia tree. It blooms in early spring, when spring is still very new and exciting. The blossoms are large, and here as a semi-hardy tree, very unique and precious to have. I would have never planted a magnolia tree–deeming it ill suited to to the site and too fussy for my tastes. But I love that I have one and can enjoy its huge blossoms every spring.

Now the downside about the tree is that somebody let a Siberian elm grow right up the middle. It reached a good eight inches in diameter before it was sawed back, but it still pokes up into the tree, and it still isn’t dead. It’s going to be a process to get it away from the magnolia.