My mother’s requirement for a house when my parents were house hunting was a tree in the front yard. She got two. I was sure hearing this story that it was the enormous maple in front of the bay window. That was the tree I most was in awe of growing up. Turns out it was the crabapple. When the maple had to come down, I was so upset. Mama was…sad but not upset. She told me she had the crabapple which she thought was prettier. A few weeks ago, I drove by that house. The new owners unaccountably tore out the beds of irises, tulips, and daffodils. The crabapple is still there though and has an odd twisted beauty that wasn’t obvious to me as a child. (Though I regret the bad pruning I did after an ice storm broke it in the 80s.)
My mother’s requirement for a house when my parents were house hunting was a tree in the front yard. She got two. I was sure hearing this story that it was the enormous maple in front of the bay window. That was the tree I most was in awe of growing up. Turns out it was the crabapple. When the maple had to come down, I was so upset. Mama was…sad but not upset. She told me she had the crabapple which she thought was prettier. A few weeks ago, I drove by that house. The new owners unaccountably tore out the beds of irises, tulips, and daffodils. The crabapple is still there though and has an odd twisted beauty that wasn’t obvious to me as a child. (Though I regret the bad pruning I did after an ice storm broke it in the 80s.)
All of that to say, your magnolia is beautiful and I love that you doctored it rather than cut it.