Star Magnolia at Brookside Gardens

The Star Magnolia at Brookside Gardens was just in bloom this past weekend on the southeast side of the Fragrance Garden (map of Brookside Gardens). It is one of the earliest blooming deciduous magnolias. The slide show below shows the whole buds and flowers.

Using the 8x loupe, I took some more detailed images of the blooms at various stages: the flowers just beginning to emerge from the bud,

The petals opening a little but still curved inward,

The expanding petals opening outward,

Opening more,

And, finally, the center of the flower.