Interesting dream. Yes, I've had those and also daydream about such plants. I love the dreams that involve an unbelievable unknown nursery with non-existent plants (in real life). I also spend my life working on diseases of trees, so that theme is also frequent.

If you really want M. dealbata, I might be able to help you out (PM me).

I know all about IDS. I had two sponsors (current members) write letters of support and applied, then never heard back!

Willows...I feel special just for knowing someone who was able to get two recommendations!

Don't want to try M. dealbata here, probably not hardy enough. But hybrids between it and hardier mags could be interesting.

Anyhow, good to know I'm not the only one who is plant-crazy enough to have such a dream.

You probably know, are there any M. delavayi in Florida or the southeast, or do they need cooler summers?

There is (was) a M. delavayi at JCRA and maybe at Plant Delights. I tried to propagate it from a tree in California, but was unsuccessful. I really would like to give it a try. I'd also really like M. pugana and M. mayana.

Well, there's that giant old Live oak in my yard with a small bit of spanish moss dripping from it, and I am able to climb it and sleep on it's huge branches. In reality, I have my 3 ft tall Compton's oak in the spot where the fantasy tree usually is. Poaky1

I have had dreams different trees of mine have died. Still none about plant shopping...yet.

Well, Toronado, did you WANT these trees to die? Well, whichever way, I hope you get whatever result you wanted..... I just want to add that while I am asleep in the boughs of my huge Live oak with Spanish moss draped on it, but, not enough moss to kill most of the leaves, I am wearing my size zero nightgown, and am the most beautiful gal in all the land. (Ha, ha ha ha) hey, if you are dreaming anyways, might as well go for the whole enchilada, right?

Now the real trick to keeping a man happy Poaky would be to be a 5'2" size 0 one day (maybe a 4, 0 is frequently curveless), then a 5'8" size 12 the next.

A couple reasons, variety is the spice of life and the grass is always greener on the other size. Maybe it was just me but if I was dating a tiny gal tall girls seemed exotic and different and so on. A decent amount of hair was my only constant but a gal could overcome that by wanting to go rollerblading.

I dream about having a giant tree like the one in the avatar movie

for those interested in trying magnolia delavayi (and willing to wait for results) both amazon(!!!) and ebay offer seeds of this plant to try. assuming the seeds are good and they germinate you may have to wait about 10 years to get blooms but the foliage on a happy plant is quite impressive---large, shiny dark green---that it will do quite nice as a cool foliage plant without the flowers.

Toronado, I will say, at least you are being honest. I actually was too thin for a guy at one time, not the case now, but, imagine my surprise when he liked a big Momma. I guess gals never know what guys are thinking, vice versa also. Oh, in my tree I have a pillow stuffed with hundred dollar bills, tons of them.

Thanks George, but I think it's almost certainly a little too cold here for M. delavayi. The RBGE multisite doesn't find any in remotely continental parts of the world. Well, the Hillier Arboretum, but that's zone 9 as far as I'm concerned, as is the Villa Taranto which is the only place I've seen one in person.
It must be said that, though definitely different looking, the somber foliage for some reason doesn't really seem much more attractive than Magnolia grandiflora. Just, as I said, different. The branch structure is also a bit wonky and the habit mounding rather than columnar. Or maybe my plant lust was merely diluted by various other goodies in that garden, like the huge Rhododendron macabeanums, etc. I think even putting hardiness aside, it would be more promising hybridized with something else.

The tree-dreams I've had are of the house I grew up which had quite a few large trees. But in the dreams those trees are monstrously huge w/15' dia trunks and sprawling branches to the ground.

Ahhhh, ok, kind of like the "Forbidden Forest" in The Princess Bride. If they weren't trying to eat you.

different strokes for different folks in different places i guess David, my experience is that it grows faster in cool summer areas like mine and the dark foliage looks healthier to me than the southern magnolia (which i also like very much). OTOH, it's not uncommon for it to grow as a giant bush for some time (that's what mine is doing) but there are 40-50' tall specimens in the u.k. and california. will it ever be a common plant even in those areas mild enough to make it happy probably not but it was a plant i lusted after for a long time and couldn't find and now that i have it for me it was worth the wait.

George, it makes sense for it to do better with your cool summers. How tall is yours and has it bloomed yet? Since you are in an area where there must be a few large M. grandiflora around ('Victoria' et al presumably, the cool summer tolerant ones) maybe you could hybridize them when you have the chance.

BTW do you know of any large and blooming M campbellii on the Oregon coast? They could certainly do well there but I doubt they were ever common plants, even in Northern California. However when I started growing rare plants in the early 1990s I have a succinct memory of seeing them listed in some PNW vendor's catalog, perhaps either Gossler or Greer. If anyone bought one in 1992, it should be blooming by now haha.

yes, my delavayi has been blooming for about 5 years now---light cream with a very faint pink tinge. the nice thing about a bushy plant is that the flowers are very easy to see and smell (sometimes by bending DOWN). forms seed cones but always abort before they get too far (my southern magnolia does the same). yes, there are blooming campbelli here (some large ones that are part of an old STREET PLANTING (!!!!) in downtown coos bay. i have the hybrid of the two subspecies ("kew's surprise") from gosslers and it flowers and fruits (want a small seedling?). depending on if greer or gossler sold grafts or cuttings rather than seedlings the various plants may have been flowering for some time now, actually.

Thanks for the offer George. I think the striking paucity of even Gresham magnolias in northeastern collections proves that anything (large and spring blooming) more distinguished than plain old M. x soulangeana is a gamble here. I should at least first demostrate those can reliably function (i.e., bloom) here. My supposed 'Phelan Bright' finally has a flower bud after waiting 6 years.

have you tried the relatively new hybrid "daybreak" which supposedly offer either some of the size or color or both of campbellii but with increased wood/flower bud hardiness and/or later flowering???

This post was edited by georgeinbandonoregon on Mon, Nov 17, 14 at 21:28

I daydream about an American Elm that has a nice solid orange-red fall color, like its Zelkova cousins.

Sorry to hi-jack this thread yet if the offer from George in Bandon, "i have the hybrid of the two subspecies ("kew's surprise") from gosslers and it flowers and fruits (want a small seedling?)." is available to a gal on the north coast I would be deligted to include a magnolia in my garden. A magnolia of any sort that grows will here would be a compliment in the yard. Just wondering?

Kinda stupid, but, we're talking fantasy, the trees in Harry Potter (forest) were kinda wild, They seemed like they were Beeches, by the root flare and shallow roots, the Avatar tree also, as Greenthumbs dude mentioned, and a tree in Star wars, the Ewoks(?) were living in. poaky1