Pink Magnolia––Tulip Tree

Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.

Job 37:14

Oh, what a beauty this flowering tree is! I love its flowers that start like furry green pods and as the petals form and swell inside the caps, withers and is pushed off by the unfolding blossoms. What drama is in each bloom. What grace––like thousands of ballet dancers balancing and twirling to the music of spring.

Some call it the tulip tree and that is a good call, since it blooms with some of the first color of the year in cup-like tulip shapes. It is breathtaking in its sudden springtime show, reminding me of the highschool girls all dolled up in their multicolored dresses posing for prom shots.

The air is stirring with the drone of bumblebees and honey bees working on their new sweetness for the autumn table. The fragrance is like a wild rose bush tumbled over an old pasture fence.

Everything is fresh and new when she arrives . For weeks until her branches are covered with sun-sipping green leaves, she will drop pink, white, and purple petals around  her feet everynight until the ground beneath her is decorated like the church sanctuary’s carpet after the flower girls have passed. A hush of anticipation falls with the sunrise, birds start up their songs,… the audience rises.