Posts from February 2010
Louis Aimé Lejeune’s “Je n’oublerai pas”
February 10, 2010
Historic Collections
Je n’oublerai pas by the sculptor Louis Aimé Lejeune was commissioned in 1930 by Anita Baldwin as a memorial for her father, Elias J. Baldwin or “Lucky Baldwin”. Baldwin was the owner of the Santa Anita Ranch from 1875 until his death in 1909 as well as the founder of the city of Arcadia and its first Mayor. The phrase is the motto of the Baldwin family and the work also bears the Baldwin family crest, a squirrel holding three acorns and three pairs of oak leaves.
In 2009 with funds provided by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission it was cleaned and moved to a new location in the Arboretum’s Day Lily Garden by professional conservators.
On a bright sunny day following the winter rains the work practically glows. The present location allows visitors to view the work to much greater advantage.
Lejeune was working for the Huntington family in 1926 when Anita Baldwin commissioned him to do a bronze fountain for her house Anoakia as well as her father’s memorial.
The Arboretum’s Flowering Magnolias: A Brief History
February 13, 2010
What's Blooming
A "big bang" is the only way to describe the unfolding galaxy of huge pink, white, and lavender flowers that occur in the early winter at the southeastern tip of the Arboretum's Meadowbrook Section. Magnolia flowers, some perfumed, some relaxed and spreading, others slender and pointed or even globular burst forth from the barren limbs after shedding their bristly flower caps (called "perules"). They are the largest single flowers outside the tropics. The Arboretum collection contains over 60 different types of magnolias, with over 40 of them being represented in the Meadowbrook Section.
Although they may appear contemporary, with a look that could be at home in front of an open ceiling mid-century modern style house, these plants have an ancient lineage. Among the first true flowering plants, magnolia fossils over 100 million years old have been found; they came to dominate the pre-ice age landscape across the world from 65 to 1 million years ago. After the glaciers finally receded, the once great forests of magnolias were gone, except for the few temperate areas of the world, like parts of China and North America, that escaped glacial ravaging.
The species that were to be the starting material for the modern deciduous flowering magnolias came from China. In cultivation there for over 1400 years, monks would collect specimens of Magnolia denudata from the local mountains and transplant them on the temple grounds where they represented the female yin and principles of candor and purity. But it wasn't just the magnolia's beauty that interested the Chinese; magnolia species like M. officinalis and M. denudata were used medicinally as well. Recent research has shown that magnolias are extremely useful medicinally. M. officinalis, called "Hou-phu" by the Chinese, is used for coughs, colds, and as a tonic. In a recent experiment published in the Journal of Pharmacology, Honokiol, a compound found in the bark extract of M. officinalis was determined to be five times as potent and much less addictive than Valium for relieving anxiety. Interestingly, a man who probably could have used such a tranquilizer was responsible for the next step in mankind's relationship with this beautiful and useful flowering tree.
In the early 19th century, Chevalier Etienne Soulange-Bodin, a disgruntled cavalry officer, treated himself for post traumatic stress by losing himself in the world of plants and gardening. Disgusted with the Napoleonic wars in which he fought (He wrote "It had doubtless been better for both parties to have stayed at home and planted their cabbages."), he founded the Royal Institute of Horticulture at Fromont near Paris. It was Soulange-Bodin, carefully transferring pollen from Magnolia lilliflora to the the female parts of Magnolia denudata flowers, who developed the first Magnolia x soulangiana hybrids ("soulangiana" coming from the first part of Mrs. Soulange-Bodin's surname). The resulting hybrid plants sported impressive tulip-like blooms in shades ranging from white, to pink, and even darker colors approaching purple. During the 1830s and later, Soulange-Bodin's hybrids became immensely popular in Great Britain, a popularity that has yet to wain and has encouraged other efforts at hybridization.
One of those programs was undertaken at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington D.C. Started by staff geneticist Francis de Vos and continued by horticulturalist William Kosar, their efforts to cross certain varieties of Magnolia liliiflora and Magnolia stellata resulted in a series of eight hybrids that were nicknamed by staff there as the "Eight Little Girls." Another ambitious hybridization program was started in Santa Cruz by Magnolia Society founder D. Todd Gresham. Wanting to produce distinctly "Californian" hybrids, he began his efforts with three hybrids chosen for their ability to flower early and their extremes in color and hardiness. From 1955 to 1966 Gresham was able to perform over 300 crosses, resulting in over a thousand hybrid magnolia seedlings, including one growing here at the Arboretum, Magnolia 'Royal Crown'.
Now let's take a tour and look at some of the beautiful magnolias blooming at the Arboretum:
Magnolia liliiflora 'Nigra'; M. liliiflora is known as "Mulan" in China and is one of the parents of Magnolia x soulangiana.
Magnolia 'Royal Crown', one of D. Todd Gresham's original crosses, is a hybrid between Magnolia liliiflora and M. x veitchii (M. x veitchii is a cross between M. campbellii and
M. denudata that was first performed by Peter Veitch of the Royal Nursery at Exeter in 1907).
Magnolia 'Royal Crown'
Magnolia 'Galaxy' is a cross between M. liliiflora and M. sprengeri that was introduced by the U.S. National Arboretum in the early 1980s.
Magnolia x soulangiana 'Rustica Rubra', a seedling of Magnolia x soulangiana that appeared in Holland at the turn of the 20th century.
Magnolia x soulangiana 'Rustica Rubra'
Magnolia x soulangiana
Magnolia x loebneri 'Merrill' These magnolias are the result of crossing Magnolia kobus with Magnolia stellata.
Magnolia x soulangiana 'Lilliputian' has beautiful pink flowers on a plant that is 35% smaller than most hybrid magnolias.
Magnolia x soulangiana 'Picture'
Magnolia denudata is known as the "Yulan" or "lily tree" in China where it was venerated as a representation of purity and openness. This species and M. liliiflora are the parents of the M. x soulangiana cross.
For those who are inspired by the beauty of these magnolias, the following list of books and references on magnolias are available at the Arboretum Library:
Asiatic Magnolias in Cultivation, by George Horace Johnstone, with a foreword by the D. Bowes-Lyon.
London: The Royal Horticultural Society, 1955.
Call Number: QK495 .M24 J72a
Checklist of the Cultivated Magnolias prepared by The American Horticultural Society ; with the cooperation of The American Magnolia Society.
Mt. Vernon, Va. : American Horticultural Society, 1975.
Call Number: SB413 .M19 A512c
Magnolias by James M. Gardiner ; [illustrations, David Ashby].
Chester, Conn. : Globe Pequot Press, 1989.
Call Number: SB413 .M19 G222m
Magnolias : A Gardener's Guide by Jim Gardiner.
Portland, Or. : Timber Press, c2000.
Call Number: SB413 .M19 G222m 2000
Magnolias by Neil G. Treseder.
London ; Boston : Faber & Faber published in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society, 1978.
Call Number: SB413 .M19 T797m
Magnolias, by J.G. Millais ... with illustrations by R. Millais and from photographs.
London, New York [etc.]: Longmans, Green and Co., 1927.
Call Number: QK495 .M24 M645m
The World of Magnolias by Dorothy J. Callaway.
Publisher: Portland, Or. : Timber Press, c1994.
Call Number: SB413 .M19 C156w
Magnolia Checklist Online American Magnolia Society
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