Everyone is aware of the familiar Southern...

Everyone is aware of the familiar Southern magnolias that decorate thousands of Southern California streets and gardens, but few are aware of their deciduous cousins. Magnolia veitchii, photographed by Kathlene Persoff for this week’s cover, is one of several hundred deciduous magnolia hybrids and cultivars that have descended from American and Asian species. Primitive plants that first developed during the days of the dinosaurs, they maintain a primitive and often pristine beauty in the winter garden, most of them blooming while trees are still bare of foliage. For an introduction to the deciduous magnolia, please turn to Page 12.