When we arrived back in Washington, D.C., in the first week of April, I enjoyed the flowers of the tulip magnolias. They were practically the only blooms in the still wintery landscape.
Although I believe what I was calling ‘tulip’ magnolias were really saucer magnolias (Magnolia x soulangeana), which are a hybrid of tulip or Mulan magnolia (M. liliiflora) and Yulan magnolia (M. denudata).
At DACOR-Bacon House, about two blocks west of the White House, I took a lot of photos of two magnolia trees that are planted at the tops of retaining walls, so that the lower blooms are right at eye level.
One of the best places in Washington to enjoy this tree blooming (or leafed out and casting shade) is the Moongate Garden of the Smithsonian’s Enid A. Haupt Garden.
And that Washington flower, the pink magnolia tree, blooms now/ In little yards, its trunk a smoky gray. . . .
— James Schuyler, from “Hymn to Life“
enclos*ure 
Oh, these are beautiful! Love that sweet pink color.
And since March and April had been so cold and almost nothing else had bloomed or leafed out, they could really be the center of attention.
[…] late March and April blooms of tulip and saucer magnolias are a well-loved sign of spring in Washington, […]