Sweet magnolias

ASPECIAL treat awaits visitors to the Great Comp Garden Spring Fling plant fair in Platt, Kent, on Sunday, April 10. The grounds are awash in the white, pink and pale

yellows of magnolias, as Great Comp’s trees have put on a ‘once-in-a-decade’ display that may extend well into April. ‘It’s been an early season this year for the magnolias and many trees have been brought into bloom by the warm sunshine,’ says William Dyson, curator at Great Comp Garden (www.greatcompgarden.co.uk). ‘However, later-flowering small trees, such as the Magnolia liliiflora ‘Nigra’ and its hybrid crosses with stellata, will bloom in gorgeous shades of purple and dark pink well into April.

Another striking specimen that will be in flower over the next 10 days will be ‘Star Wars’—a beautiful tall tree that towers above the Italian Garden. It has rosy-pink flowers which open with a lighter pink inside. Alba superba will last into April and, together with Magnolia x veitchii, will help to extend the blooming season—as long as the frosts don’t come.’