The northern hemisphere magnolia season was largely over for the year when this photo came down my social media. That is our Magnolia ‘Felix Jury’ flowering this very week in Håvik, Rogaland, Norway. Over a hundred flowers, I believe.

We are accustomed to seeing photos of Jury plants from around the world but this one seemed particularly significant in terms of pushing climatic boundaries and somewhat touching at a personal level. It is just so far away from us and yet a little piece of genetic material from Tikorangi is thriving beyond expectation.

I had to look up where Håvik is – on the west coast of Norway bounded by a fjord and the North Sea on one side and high mountains on the other. It is getting quite close to the Arctic Circle so will be an area accustomed to very long daylight hours in summer and long hours of  darkness and low light in winter. Even allowing for the moderating effect of the nearby sea, these conditions are as extreme as our conditions here are mild. Frankly, it is astonishing to us that it is performing at all, let alone performing to this extent.

For us it flowers in August through to early September which would translate to February through to early March in the northern hemisphere but it has clearly delayed its blooming by two months in Norway. Despite that, it has retained its flower form and is showing good colour.

The distance between Tikorangi and Håvik is around 17 500 km so it may be one of the furthest away Jury plants being grown but the delight is shared equally between the breeder here and the gardener there.