If it's true good things come to those who wait, then one rare magnolia tree is extra special - it has waited more than 50 years to blossom.

Magnolias take a notoriously long time to flower but even by those standards, its 8in purple blooms have taken their time.

The Lanarth magnolia mollicomata was planted at High Beeches Gardens at Handcross, near Haywards Heath in 1950 by Colonel Loder, a bachelor who created the woodland gardens at the turn of the last century.

The plant is a cutting from the first of its kind in the country, which was brought over from China and first flowered in Cornwall in 1943.

The colonel died before he had a chance to see the plant in all its glory but Anne and Edward Boscawen, who took over the garden in 1966, have been nurturing the magnolia for 37 years in the hope it would flower.

This week that love and attention paid off and the 15ft tree is now covered in the giant deep cyclamen purple flowers.

It was not until the blooms appeared that Anne and Edward were sure the plant was a Lanarth, which is known for its unusual colour.

Anne said: "Each year we would feed the tree, cross our fingers and hope it would flower. The mollicomata sub species normally takes 15 years to flower but even so this one was 37 years late.

"We always hoped it would be a Lanarth but weren't sure as another tree we had that was meant to be a Lanarth turned out to have dusty pink flowers.

"It's very rare in gardens and only three nurseries in the British Isles stock it. It was just terrific to see this one in bloom.

"We have all the colonel's records so we know what he planted and when. It's wonderful to see it flower."

The Boscawens have run High Beeches as a charitable trust since 1988 and the English Heritage Grade II listed gardens are open to the public from April to October.

Anne said: "We took on the gardens as a great adventure. We had visited a few times after hearing they were the most beautiful in England and bought them when they came up for auction."