The local university campus is nearly deserted these days, so we took advantage of the quiet to walk around a bit and see how the magnolia next to the Science Building is doing. I know magnolias are a wild and even weedy thing in other places, but here they are a wonder of spring.

This magnolia was the first I ever saw in the city, 35 years or more ago. It grows in a very sheltered spot and is a remnant of a garden planted there about fifty years ago when the building behind it was constructed.

Some years it reaches this bud-breaking point at the beginning of May, even late April. Other years it is just reaching this point in late May. So, this is definitely not an early year, but it's not its latest either.