I WAS interested to read the article about the magnolia tree at Exbury Gardens (Daily Echo, August 18).

I, too, have a magnolia in my garden and it is 20 years old. For the past five years it has been flowering three times a year and it is flowering now. The flowers are a deep purple and the leaves are very big, considering the tree never grows upwards and only grows outwards! I am sure it will start to flower four times a year soon.

MARIA LUKE, Millbrook, Southampton.