Clipboard - Saucer Magnolia

The saucer magnolia is a magnificent tree and the one featured in this collection is in my front yard. I live in the house where my Grandma Mary spent many decades of her life. She planted this tree about forty years ago. The sapling was a present from her sister, Ollie, and was my grandmother's pride and joy. The most wondrous thing about the tree is the way it blooms. It's one of the first things to bloom in Spring and when it blossoms, the whole tree is essentially covered with flowers . . . and, pretty much, no leaves . . . JUST flowers. It's fabulously fragrant and almost magical in the way it displays only blooms. When the flowers fall, leaving a lovely, pink and white carpet on the ground, the leaves come in and it becomes a delightful shade tree for the remainder of the season. Some years, the beauty is nothing short of tragic. The tree opens up with those beautiful flowers and then we get a late frost. Literally overnight, the pinks and whites turn brown and fall sadly to the ground. And, until the leaves come in, the tree is empty again. The joyous beauty of those fragile blooms has been captured in the design on this terrific clipboard. Even when the clip is filled with paper, you can still enjoy this stunning image as the design is repeated on the back of the clipboard.