15 Years of Magnolia Trees and their Blossoms

 In 2008, my second wife and I had been married 9 years, after waiting 5 years after our divorces.  That year is memorable because I started my first round of chemo treatment, we purchased and installed an above ground pool, hot tub, deck, and gazebo...  it was also the year that I brought back 9 little Magnolia trees that were less than a foot tall, that I had dug up in my parents front yard in Chapel Hill, NC.

I planted them intentionally less than 10 feet apart because I wanted to them grow together and form a wall of sorts as they grew.  The wall would block neighbors from the right looking us in and around our pool...  but, more importantly, the idea was for these trees to bloom and form a wall of white flowers that my wife could look at because she has a passion for Magnolias.

Each of these trees also represented the 9 years we had been married, so there was a little symbolism there as well...

Our Magnolias are 15 years old and the wall has been formed and the flowers do bloom as expected.  However, there are not as many blossoms as I had hoped for and while the trees grew tall they did not grow as wide as anticipated...  but you cannot make nature always do your bidding.

What white blossoms we do have smell wonderful and my wife does enjoy looking at them...  so the idea generally worked.

Anyway, it will always remind me of what I tried to do and why I tried to do it and for me that is all that matters.