Magnolias – trouble free
and sensational
SPECIALIST
TREES
Eye-catching flowering trees give a boost to any garden at this
time of year, especially if under planted with spring bulbs and
flowers. Among many people’s favourite ornamental trees are
the magnolias.
In a variety of colours ranging from pure white to pink, purple and
shades of creamy and greenish yellow, they are often scented and
will make beautiful specimen trees on a sunny site or in partial shade.
They are a large family and it is worth going to a good nursery
to look at the all the options suitable for your garden – its
Magnolia sieboldi – fragrant Magnolia cambelli –provides large upright
size and position, the soil and how much you room have for a
white flowers from May blooms of pink or purplish pink.
specimen shrub or tree.
The magnificent large tulip shaped flowers of the Magnolia
If you have the room, and can wait for it to flower eventually,
soulangeana, or the distinctive open flowers of the M.
then Magnolia x soulangeana is a fine specimen tree.
campbellii are an amazing sight in spring.
Often mistakenly called the tulip tree (which is correctly the
Liriodendron tulipa, a tall parkland-type tree with pale yellow
But they need plenty of room and may not be suitable for
flowers in July, so high up it is hard to see them) the pale pink
many gardens. Magnolia stellata, with its pretty star shaped
tulip-like flowers of this large magnolia when seen en masse
flowers as its name suggests, could be a better choice to
are a truly awesome sight.
brighten up an average sized garden.
Just let a tree like this grow as it will, and don’t prune it. After
Magnolia facts
the dramatic spring show it is not so interesting although
the leaves are a good shape and as it ages it may have some
s4HEGENUSISNAMEDAFTER&RENCHBOTANIST0IERR
interesting shaped boughs
E-AGNOL
.
s-AGNOLIASARENOTORIOUSLYDIFlCULTTOMOV
Choose a
E
THE
magnolia
ROOTS


campbellii
ARE
and after a decade you’ll have
largely rope-like and should only be moved if the trunk is less
than four inches in diameter.
a mature tree with beautiful large upright blooms of pink or
purplish pink. It is hardy but likes a sheltered, sunny site, with a
s4HEFRUITOFTHEMAGNOLIAMAYLOOKLIKEACONEITISAN
moist, well drained and pr

eferably lime free soil.
aggregate fruit that is woody. Magnolias are some of the most
primitive of all flowering plants, but the seeds are enclosed in
Its full height is 15m (50 feet) with a spread of 10m (33 feet),
the fruit during their development. so it really is for a large plot, a woodland garden or to provide
a canopy for shade loving plants. There are a couple of good
More of a shrub than a tree, it is hardy, compact and slow
cultivars developed to withstand windy conditions, ‘Lamellan
growing, reaching about 3m (10 feet) high with a spread of
Pink’ and a white form of it.
about 4m (12 feet). It is deciduous as are the other magnolias, M. wilsonii, introduced by the great plant hunter Ernest ‘Chinese’
and in early spring it is a lovely sight with its grey-green buds Wilson, grows to 6m (20 feet) with creamy waxy flowers that
opening out to blush-pink flowers containing up to 15 petals. droop downwards, has interesting red-purple shoots, and leaves
It requires little or no pruning. M. stellata ‘Waterlily’ has larger which are red-brown underneath with a texture like felt. He
double white flowers. introduced seven from China into Britain, including M. sargentiana
Another magnolia for a smaller garden is M. seiboldii, with fragrant
and he considered to be one of the noblest of its family.
white flowers from May (so perhaps missing the late frosts that For any magnolia choose a site which gives shelter from
could hit the early flowering magnolias) and red fruits later on, cold winds and late spring frosts which may damage the
which make it a most interesting specimen shrub or small tree. flowers. They may suffer from coral spot, orange pustules on
It is a magnolia for a woodland garden, to be grown as a
dying stems. Remove affected stems and burn it. Otherwise
specimen or to give shade to a border, and after the blossom
magnolias are a fairly trouble free addition to the garden,
has gone there are attractive leaves during the summer.
and will enhance it for years.
14
Country Gardener
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