All eyes on the magnolia

IT Support Consultant Becca Tennant gets up close to inspect the first magnolia blossoms of the year.

Today might be the first day of spring, but for a small but dedicated bunch of staff with offices overlooking the quad, a grand old girl is the true herald of the season.

The magnificent magnolia tree which blooms in August is watched with eager eyes by the group for the first sign of bright pink.

The disparate group, who include John Williams, of Geology, John Bartlett, from Human Resources, former head of Student Services David Richardson as well as Gary Peacock and Becca Tennant, from Corporate Support, all mark the beginning of spring when the first bud blooms.

Gary says noting down the date is about as official as “Magnolia Day” gets: “We all note it and talk about it, but we are a fairly sedate lot; when it blooms, we don't crack open champagne and talk about the old times, put it that way. But it is interesting as a sign that spring is here and we're through the coldest months, and it is interesting to observe the trends.

“Since we've been recording Magnolia Day, the date of the first bloom has moved from the end of August, through to the start of August, although this year was a bit different.”

This year the first pink bud opened on August 19, putting it about the middle of the recordings data, which John Williams has been taking since 1995. There is a school of thought that colder winters, such as this year and in the 1990s, make her bloom later, but no serious research has been done on the matter.

Group “member” John Bartlett, who retired last week after more than a decade of working and occasional tree-watching, and says he had hoped to retire on the day the tree bloomed again, but it didn't quite work out.
“It's a fabulous tree.”

For interest's sake, the following are the dates the magnolia has blossomed since 1995: