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Oh, Mama Earth, you’re a cruel one at times!
The first week of Spring, I was giddy with anticipation. The buds on our Magnolia tree were getting fatter and fuzzier by the minute! High hopes for a full on, bloomin’ bonanza within days!
I posted photos of my budding branches in the inaugural Pics of the Week and yapped away about my would-be magnolias to my gardening groups.
But alas!
(Back of hand to forehead and heavy *sigh*)
Just as they began to pop into their gorgeous glory, the fickle Canadian weather swooped and threw the temperature way down below freezing.
(Heart wrenching, frantic violins!)
So now, it is with deep regret that I inform you that the magnolia blossoms, mere days old, and only half opened, did not make it. 
Frostbitten, browning petals litter my lawn now, and what is still on that poor little tree is terribly saggy, spent and well beyond saving.
That said, I did manage to snap the following pictures the day before the cold laid the smackdown.
It warmed up again, today, but we’re expecting it to get frigid again (I’ve heard rumors of one last snow…ACK!!) We’ll have to watch and wait to see how our darling tree fares this Spring.
On the flipside, while Mother Nature taketh away, guess what? Bingo! You’ve got it, my friend, she gives too!
As I lamented my almost-bloomed magnolias and abject ruthlessness of Canada’s freakish weather, I got a heckuva deal! A full case of sweet, sweet champagne!
…Well, Champagne mangos, actually 
.
Also known as Ataulfo Mangos, I wrote about these golden goodies (here) and they are deeeeelish. I got the whole case of 18 for what worked out to about $0.50 per mango (over half off of what they normally cost! SCORE!)
I see a plethora of juices, smoothies, desserts and chutneys in my future!
And maybe, just maybe, a beautiful, blooming magnolia tree too.
*****
All images by Moi, Zen and Genki, with the exception of Crying Baby (via Babyworld)
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Love Magnolia’s..
I miss them terribly
In Asia now..
Ah, yes, but you get the Cherry Blossoms!
Didn’t know cherry blossoms exist here in the Philippines. There is one called Palawan Cherry Blossoms..Good to know…;)
Aw sorry to hear you lost the magnolias before you could fully enjoy them! Mother Nature is a bit wonky this year. But fantastic shots to capture their brief and stunning existence.
Thanks, Kourtney. Wonky, indeed! Still hoping for a couple of really good blooms this year (fingers crossed for “fuller” pics before the weather gets colder again!)
So disappointing about your magnolia! We got a freakish ice storm a few years back just as our Bradford pear tree was preparing to bloom, and that storm was actually windy and severe enough that the poor tree was cracked in half.
We miss it still!
Oh, that’s heartbreaking! We have a pear tree in our backyard that we just trimmed down, hardcore (it was producing soooo much fruit, and growing very willy nilly – way out of control. I think it won’t be till next year when it actually yields pears again!) That must’ve been one awful storm to split your tree like that!
It was one of those early spring storms no one predicted, so we were completely unprepared! Not that we would have been able to do anything, of course, but that just made it all the worse. Here we were thinking warm weather was just around the corner, and than wham-o! Such a bummer.
Lovely photos, Anne. The Magnolias will return to you some other time.
Boo! Sorry to hear about your magnolia tree Anne. They really have the prettiest blooms in spring. I look forward to seeing them every year too. Hoping you do get a second bloom.
Me too! Thanks, Maureen
Beautiful pictures and yes, so sad that they didn’t make it. The cherry blossoms are just getting started, so hopefully some sun will shine and they will open and not follow the magnolias!
Yep, there are always the cherry blossoms! And I’ve got a couple of doozy pics of those that I hope to use here soon too
Thanks for popping in and commenting, Debra!
You did get some beautiful photographs though. If this is a bad year for the blooms, I bet a good year is out of this world!
It really is, Lisa! In a good year, that tree looks surreal. It is just stunning. Hopefully will have pics of that this year too
Too bad about the fallen soldiers. At least your magnolia got to bloom. I wonder about all the other buds and flowers that have come up ahead of time this year. I’m in Canada too. In Ontario. We sure have had whacky weather since last fall.
Your photos are wonderful and refreshing to look at.
I’m in Mississauga, myself, so I imagine we have had the same sort of weather (crazy) All of our flowers got the wrong message too, but they didn’t full on start blooming early, so I think they will be OK. So glad you enjoyed the photos! It was a really windy day and the tree was moving all over the place so I wasn’t sure they’d turn out
Oh the photos are so pretty but I’m sad the blooms didn’t make it!! I love champagne mangos! They are so sweet and delicious. I’m hoping to find some today but if not the frozen kind will do for now. I’m excited for summer fruit!
Hi Alex,
As for the mangos, they all ripened really fast, we couldn’t eat them fast enough, so I peeled all 18 of them (yes I had one mother of a hand cramp!), chopped them and froze away. Good for smoothies later and my kids love them frozen too 
I know, it really is sad–the tree’s looking pretty pathetic at the moment, even though today is really sunny and mild. Lots of browning flowers just kind of blowing in the wind
Hi,
What a shame the weather turned cold again and your beautiful magnolia tree lost it’s new growth, such lovely flowers, a very pretty pink.
Thank you! I’m hoping that we get another round of blooms before the weather turns dodgy again. (I’ll be there with my camera!)
I love Magnolia. I planted a tree last year and am hoping to get some flowers sometime in the near future. They are so lovely, aren’t they?
Lovely, indeed! One of my favourite things about Spring is watching that tree go into bloom
Thanks for stopping in!
I love magnolias as they seem to slowly bit by bit open up their petals to accept the sun’s kisses! A few years back, when we were still living in Toronto, a landscape architect found me a magnolia tree that had beautiful yellow blooms. I did not believe him until the following spring when the entire tree was indeed filled with yellow blooms.
Yellow, wow! Never seen one of those! But I’m just outside of T.O. so I’ll keep my eyes peeled–would love to get one of those!
Reblogged this on Lucid Gypsy and commented:
My photo is the daily shot of Z&G! Take a peep at Anne’s lovely blog for photography, food, fun and lots more.
My pic was taken at the Jardins Majorelle in Marrakech, once owned my Yves St Laurent and his ashes were scattered there.
Thanks, Gilly! I added in the extra details about Yves St. Laurent into the Daily Z & G Page. Have a wonderful Tuesday!