Tulip Tree's First Flower

About three years ago, in the garden of the newly finished Ruskin Building, three young Liriodendron tulipifera 'Festigiatum' were planted. Commonly known as the Tulip Tree, this variety is a very narrow, upright, columnar form of its big brother found growing on the Nuffield Lawn.
Well the waiting is over, the first and only flower has opened on one of the trees. The flower, orange, green and creamy yellow, resembles a tulip. A beautiful tree, but for now to see a tree covered in flowers, we will have to wonder over to the Nuffield lawn, maybe next year there will be a few more on our young trees.