Monthly Report
SNITTERFIELD GARDEN CLUB APRIL 2024 MEETING
For our April meeting our speaker was Dan Winter who spoke about “The Magnolias of Evenley Wood” where he is head gardener and has been in charge for nearly four years.
Originally part of the Evenley Hall Estate, Evenley Wood was developed for timber and shooting. It was sold in the 1930s and fell into disrepair for some years. In 1980 it was bought by Timothy Whiteley. It was of particular interest to him as it had an unusual mix of acid and alkaline soil.
His original plan was to develop the acid patch as a garden within the wood, but this soon encompassed larger areas of the woodland. The garden’s unusual band of acid soil provides the opportunity to cultivate plants such as rhododendrons, camellias, and magnolias. Today there are around a hundred different magnolia varieties at Evenley, about 80 collected by Timothy and others added later.
Timothy actively participated in the garden’s activities until he passed away, aged 85, in January 2017. His daughter, Nicola Taylor, took on the mantle of running Evenley Wood Garden in 2018 - an enormous challenge as gardening was not her first passion.
Magnolias are a very “showy” plant being unusual among trees and shrubs as most of them have blooms before leaves. They are however one of the most primitive plants in evolutionary history, fossil remains showing that they existed widely over 100 million years ago. Now they are only indigenous to the Himalayas, East and South East Asia and from the southern United States to Brazil.
As magnolias existed millions of years before winged insects, so they are pollinated in the wild by primitive wingless beetles. In our climate most spring flowering magnolias flower long before many insects have appeared, hence many species seldom, if ever, set seed.
“Magnolia” was named by the Swedish botanist Carl Linneaus in 1737 in honour of the French botanist Pierre Magnol (1638-1715) who first described the magnolia we now know as Magnolia virginiana. Since then various plant breeders have hybridised magnolias and in recent years hybridisation has been immensely successful in combining the best aspects of different species to give plants which flower at an earlier age than the parent species, as well as having more impressive flowers.
Magnolia stellata Magnolia 'Caerhays Surprise'
Today there are over 200 species known world-wide, some evergreen, some deciduous. There are varieties of all sizes from quite compact shrubs to large trees. Flowering time now ranges from early March to September. Flower size and shape vary from a few centimetres to M Seiboldii Colossus - an eight metre tall tree with leaves that are up to 30cm long and 15cm wide, and flowers up to 15cm across.
Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’ Magnolia Elizabeth (yellow)
Flower shape includes the star shaped “Stellata”, water lily shaped, “Caerhays Surprise” and tulip shaped “Genie”. Most are white through shades of pink, but some are almost maroon such as “Black Tulip” and “Nigra”. There are also some yellow varieties. In other words, there is a variety to suit most gardens and tastes! I am sure that after listening to Dan’s talk many members will now consider magnolias in a different light.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 7th May 7:30pm in Snitterfield Village Hall when Jeff Soulsby will be speaking about “The Garden in May – Key plants through to summer”. Old friends and guests plus new members are always welcome. The full list of speakers and garden visits for 2023 -2024 is our programme page.
Jean Harris
Chairman