Not sure about where to acquire a majestic beauty, but just wanted to add that these are very slow growing trees. You and I will be long gone before that tree reaches 60' or more! ;)

Little Gem blooms alot, but is probably smaller than what you want. Good luck!

We plan to stay in our current house for a very long time (though we know things can change very fast) and we are both 28 :) I would like to see a large beautiful specimen by the time grandkids come over to play. I have already planted a live oak for their accessible low limbs for climbing. I know this is a long term investment but I have already planted over 40 trees on our property since last spring and want to finish all the planting this year so I can start on beds and our pond in the next couple of years after the trees are established.

Oh, well that's different! You have plenty of time. I like to keep the lower limbs on there to reduce yardwork and leaves good limbs for climbing. The one we had on our property when I was a kid was huge and great for climbing. As I recall, it didn't flower that much though, maybe only one or two a year. I couldn't even guess which cultivar either but it was probably planted circa 1930's or 40's, before many of the cultivars that are available today.

I actually checked with a couple of my common tree sources and neither have the cultivar you are looking for. Based on its description, it seems to fit what you want well. Maybe someone who actually has this cultivar can respond as to its suitability.. Good luck!

1 or 2 flowers a year? Yikes!! I don't really care for the foliage, but I love the flowers (more important to my situation it is the wife's favorite tree). I wish I could find something that flowers even half as much as the Little Gem that gets large in time.

Very large in this instance = more than 60'? That's where large starts with a tree. Being a large-growing tree, southern magnolia grows over 60' tall when not a smaller-growing variant like 'Little Gem'.

'Little Gem' is on the tender side, in my part of USDA 8 many specimens around me are badly hammered for the second time in recent years. It is also prone to foliage mildew here and a twig blight which I take to be Pseudomonas, same as on Euonymus japonicus in this area. In Arkansas such hot climate trees and shrubs may behave differently. But Dorothy Callway did note in her Timber Press book on magnolias that 'Little Gem' was about the most tender cultivar. Actually being a columnar form, with the bushy propagules brought home from outlets sometimes eventually forming points and growing taller and slender, it may be split in half by wet snow. I have been paid to tidy up one such unfortunate specimen in Seattle, it snapped right across the middle about half way up, all the top above that point dumping over like it had no structural integrity at all.

With its paddle-like leaves Majesty Beauty PP 2250 = 'Monlia' is prone to collecting slush and snapping also, at least in my climate.

Look into more recent introductions to the general trade with superior hardiness and foliage characters, maybe Bracken's Brown Beauty PP 5520 for instance. Otherwise the older 'St. Mary' and 'Victoria', as represented in contemporary commerce here are more compact types that don't seem to break so readily.

Now THAT is a horror story!

That is some very good info, thank you very much :)

As mentioned earlier, there are many southern mags around me (all residential plantings) that are at different stages of development and doing very good. So I am not concerned with hardiness in my location.

How is the flowering on BBB? I mean, ideally, in 20 years I would like a mature tree that flowers more than the straight species and can get 20+ ft in spread and 30-40+ ft in height.

That last sentence was confusing. I meant in 20 years the tee will be flowering more than the straight species and has the potential to obtain during/after the 20 years of being 20+ ft spread and 30-40+ ft tall.

I wouldn't worry about the flowering, most southern magnolia cultivars would be based on seedling variants of a highly variable species - each was an example of the straight species before being selected and built up by a nursery. And a generally available named form seems unlikely to be a shy bloomer, this would be considered a serious drawback.

I know how this species' cultivars are cultivated. What I meant was say if the range of flowers for southern magnolia species was at a min of 0 (bad flowering genes) and max out on the best tree of all time at 100 and the average flowers per year for the entire species was 60 I would want a cultivar that commonly would be expected to produce 60+ flowers in a year. I believe it is very common for modern cultivars to be selected for cold hardiness rather over blooming to extend the plantable range of the species. That is all I was (unsuccessfully) trying to get at.

OP:

You said you didn't particularly like the foliage. As you may already know the different cultivars have some variation in the leaf appearance. BBB is slightly smaller, brown leaves for example. That could also be a guide in your cultivar selection.

Personally, I like the larger dark, green leaves because what few of them that blow away from underneath the canopy are easier for me to pick up.

Where I live the wild ones seems to flower just as much as the cultivars.

I think BBB is known more for the foliage than the flowers.