It’s magnolia time
Let’s talk magnolias.
I was going to start by saying let’s talk about one of my favorite plants; I have so many that this wouldn’t be true. Let’s talk about one of my many favorites.
How can you not like magnolias when they are in full bloom in the spring? They are gorgeous, unless a freeze hits them. Then you have brown blobs hanging on the tree.
Saucer magnolias (Magnolia soulangiana) took a beating here from the freezes a few weeks ago. Some are still hanging on to the big brown blobs of dead flower petals. If they bloomed, the flowers are as big as a fist and resemble tulip flowers, with pinkish and purplish petals.
Those that came out this past week and are beautiful. Saucer magnolia has a beautiful structure as it ages. I know where most of the older ones are in Springfield and their splendor always amazes me.
Saucer magnolia is considered a small- to medium-sized tree, growing to around 30 feet. If you grow a saucer, give it plenty of room because as it ages, the structure of the plant is beautiful.
The saucer magnolia isn’t the first one to bloom around here. That would be Magnolia stellata, or star magnolia. It comes out in early March and usually puts on a pretty good show. However, it came out a bit early during the warm spell and then got nipped by the cold.
Mine, however, had minimal flower damage and is just finishing up a pretty good bloom. In addition, the flowers on star magnolia don’t open all at once, so if a few get dinged, the rest tend to take over. The flowers are also quite fragrant.
Star magnolia is good for a smaller landscape, as it can be a small tree or large shrub, growing to around 15-20 feet tall.
I especially like a newer magnolia called Butterflies. This hybrid is noted for yellow flowers that retain their color for more than a week without fading to brown.
Butterflies magnolia grows more upright or pyramidal and can get to around 20 feet tall with a single trunk. It can be grown as a multi-stemmed shrub. The flowers are glorious at Snyder Park Gardens & Arboretum in Springfield.
The flowers are yellow and almost 5 inches across. They have a slight lemon aroma. It blooms around mid April.
One that you don’t always see in our area is Magnolia macrophylla, or bigleaf magnolia. Its leaves are anywhere from 15-30 inches in length. They have a slight silver undertone that looks great in the fall.
Flowers are not always noticeable, as they bloom when the leaves are fully expanded in July. The flowers are white and large as well, 8-10 inches in diameter.
This is a large tree and requires considerable space and likes a deep, rich moist soil. You may see them in cemeteries and arboretums.
The summer-blooming sweetbay magnolia (M. virginiana) is great in Ohio gardens. The flowers are quite fragrant, and the foliage has silver undertones as well. It only grows to around 10–12 feet tall.