The cold snap is continuing and as the sub-zero days increase in number I am becoming anxious as to the eventual effect on the plants. They have never been subjected to such a continual cold period which is, as far as the forecasts lead us to believe, to continue.
Some of the plants seem to be resisting the cold well and I impressed by my young magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora ). I knew the thick, tough leaves allowed it to take the hot summer sun and could stand a good measure of drought but they appear to be comfortably accepting the sub-zero temperatures as well.
Looking at the photo taken today the leaves seem to be coping well with their first period of prolonged cold.
Last July my little tree produced its first two flowers which surprised me as I had been warned that they took years to flower and I had bought a very young plant.
I checked on Wikipedia and Magnolias are native of the south eastern United States and are not known to be hardy plants, however, the varieties with leaves which are brown coloured underneath are hardier than varieties with light coloured undersides. As there are huge magnolia trees in this region I hope that my little one will not suffer to much damage.
a french garden 