Magnolia stellata

We planted out the Magnolia stellata in November 2017 at one end of our "oak terrace" - prior to that it had spent many years in a pot, often rather neglected, so still rather small.  We then made the mistake last spring of planting a couple of Echium rather close to it.  We picked these up as little seedlings for maybe 50p each at a gardening club sale.  I knew they got big but misjudged their proximity - made worse by the fact that one of them decided to lean in towards the little tree!  Never mind - they will presumably flower this year, then die - if not, they may have to be removed.

On the way back from the gym today, I commented that the magnolia trees in surrounding gardens seemed further ahead than ours.  W subsequently pointed out the flowers on this magnolia, even if they are difficult to see.  

We have several other magnolias around the garden, the one planted above Fido's graveis still very small, and has no flower buds this year, the other two have buds, but no flowers as yet.