Magnolia is a type of popular plant in California. On one of the nearby streets in our neighborhood, almost every house has a magnolia tree in its front yard. In early spring, they are the first blooming trees carrying either white or purple flowers. Every time when I saw them, it would wake up my sensation to spring and bring my mind back to my elementary school years.
In the early memory of my childhood, the blooming of winter jasmine is the first whisper of spring. Spring sneaks in in a very quiet way in Shanghai. When most of trees still have bare brunches without any budding sign, the slight poke from those small light yellow flowers can always bring me a warm and intoxicating smile. I thought spring always sends messages in this way till I was back to Beijing.
In Beijing, the north part of the China, the spring announcement is louder and bolder, like the personality of people living there. Magnolia was one of the first blooming in our campus. Like the size of its flowers, the announcement is confident and proud in a full and clear tone. Before moving to California, I used to think magnolia is a super precious species as I only knew three magnolia trees in my childhood, two middle-sized white magnolia in front of the Main Building in Tsinghua, and a huge and old purple magnolia in Summer Palace. I thought they were specially precious because we visited them almost every year in elementary school during our spring field trips. The field trip was supposed to be exciting, however as it was associated with essay about the trees every time, the beautiful petals and elegant fragrance almost turned to be a nightmare in those years.
Luckily, this “tradition” stopped when I entered middle school. Life has been going fast since then. After years when magnolia had finally been buried under dusty memories, one day I suddenly started missing those lonely and pure white flowers. I was glad to see them after moving to current neighborhood. I was glad to know it’s not hard to grow in California. I’m glad I could reconnect with it and now I know it is truly precious, in a different way.
In the early memory of my childhood, the blooming of winter jasmine is the first whisper of spring. Spring sneaks in in a very quiet way in Shanghai. When most of trees still have bare brunches without any budding sign, the slight poke from those small light yellow flowers can always bring me a warm and intoxicating smile. I thought spring always sends messages in this way till I was back to Beijing.
In Beijing, the north part of the China, the spring announcement is louder and bolder, like the personality of people living there. Magnolia was one of the first blooming in our campus. Like the size of its flowers, the announcement is confident and proud in a full and clear tone. Before moving to California, I used to think magnolia is a super precious species as I only knew three magnolia trees in my childhood, two middle-sized white magnolia in front of the Main Building in Tsinghua, and a huge and old purple magnolia in Summer Palace. I thought they were specially precious because we visited them almost every year in elementary school during our spring field trips. The field trip was supposed to be exciting, however as it was associated with essay about the trees every time, the beautiful petals and elegant fragrance almost turned to be a nightmare in those years.
Luckily, this “tradition” stopped when I entered middle school. Life has been going fast since then. After years when magnolia had finally been buried under dusty memories, one day I suddenly started missing those lonely and pure white flowers. I was glad to see them after moving to current neighborhood. I was glad to know it’s not hard to grow in California. I’m glad I could reconnect with it and now I know it is truly precious, in a different way.
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