One of the prettiest sights in south Louisiana in the Spring are all the Japanese Magnolias. This one is located on the ground of Magnolia Mound Plantation. While I was helping my mother in the garden there I remarked on how pretty they were. My mother agreed but shook her head and explained that yes, they were beautiful but that they were historically inaccurate for the garden. The house was build in the late 17oo’s and no one had bothered to bring any Japanese Magnolias to south Louisiana at that date. You could tell she regretted it, but she still thought that they need to go. We don’t lack for Japanese Magnolias in Baton Rouge so there would be no great harm done. And the idea of trying to recreate the house as it was when it was a working plantation makes sense to me… you know, minus the slaves and the rampant tropical diseases, but it would be a shame to lose these trees. As far as I know there are no plans to cut them down or anything; they will just bloom every February as a showy reminder that the past is really just what we imagine it to be, nothing more, nothing less. Or, something like that.