Please help me pick the best cultivar of Magnolia grandiflora

13 years ago

I am happy to say we recently had an oak tree removed, and that means I get to plant a Magnolia grandiflora (Southern Magnolia) in its place. I've been wanting one for a long time.

I absolutely love the fragrance of the M. grandiflora, and have some questions.

1. Do all of the cultivars smell the same? Or, do some have a different fragrance from others?

2. Do all the cultivars have equally strong fragrance, or do some smell weaker than others (even if the smell itself is the same)?

3. What cultivar blooms heaviest in your opinion, most prolific, abundant number of blooms?

4. What cultivar blooms longest, earlier in Spring and later into Fall, in your opinion?

5. What cultivar blooms youngest in the life of the tree, soon after planting, in your opinion?

Fragrance is most important to me of all characteristics of Magnolia grandiflora. I want fantastic, classic Southern magnolia smell, strong and able to be enjoyed across the yard. Next, I'd like the fragrance to be available for as many months out of the year as possible, and I'd like it to bloom young, so that I don't have to wait long for the tree to grow before it blooms (I might not live here for years, and hope to get a crop or two of blooms soon). And, I need some blooms to stay close to the ground, so that I can always get my nose up into them. So, I need branches extend all the way to the ground.

It would be nice if the flowers were large, but if having large flowers means fewer flowers, that is not a good trade off.

It does not matter to me what the leaves look like, or if they have any of the brown fuzz on the undersides. The overall shape of the tree is not so important either, as long as it branches and blooms at ground level on up. I am not very concerned about cold tolerance either, as, even though they say zone 7, I haven't personally seen below 10F yet. It is rare to go below 10 F here.

It is better not to have one of the hugest trees, as this is a neighborhood front yard, but I was thinking Little Gem flowers were kind of small and I wanted a tree big enough to give nice size flowers.

Best case scenario - Medium or smaller size tree with abundant, large flowers that blooms early and keeps blooming late in the season, having strong, wafting fragrance that is the classic Southern magnolia fragrance. Branches growing from ground to crown, and blooming low, all the way to the ground.

Any suggestions on the best cultivar?

Thank you so much!!!!

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Comments (6)

jeff_al
12 years ago
as it has been about a week since your post and no replies, i think you would get a better response if you posted your question to the "trees" forum. there have been many posts about magnolias on that one. in fact, there was one by a person who was gaging interest by readers for a separate "magnolia" forum. there are quite a few professionals who read and post to the "trees' forum who should be able to answer your questions.
jimshy
12 years ago
Try and see if you can contact Pat McCracken, current president of the Magnolia Society International, through their website. He's grown over 150 cultivars of grandiflora, and used to sell all sorts of rarities on the web. For smaller spaces, Kay Parris is probably the best, but most fragrant? If you get an answer, let us know!

Jim
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subtropix
12 years ago
M. grandiflora is also one one my favorites and I have a variety of cultivars. It sounds like you are mostly concerned with fragrance differences. In which case, you might even consider Magnolia virginiana. It is actually more intensely fragrant than grandiflora but the season of bloom is not the longest. Among the grandifloras, I think there are some subtle differences in frangrance. Unfortunately, I don't think you can always trust the name tags some trees are sold with. I have one tree that was sold to me as a Victoria (from British Columbia) that just seems more intensely fragrant I have two other Victorias that look different structurally and seem the lack the same intensity of fragrance. But if you are also interested in the length of the growing season, I HIGHLY suggest LITTLE GEM (it's a grandiflora cultivar). This thing bloomed from the time I put it into the ground (in May) through October. No other cold hardy magnolia blooms this long. I have since gone out to buy three more. Leaves are much smaller than most but nice color and shine. It is slower growing though. I have the following cultivars of grandiflora: Victoria, Edith Bogue, Little Gem, Teddy Bear, Majestic Beauty, Green Giant ,and a deciduous M. virginiana.
theresa_2008
12 years ago
I grow both Majestic Beauty and Little Gem in my Southern California garden. We planted 24" box trees. I've only had them for four years, but would be happy to share my observations so far. My preference between these two is Majestic Beauty.

They both bloomed in the first couple of years. It seemed like there were more flowers on Majestic Beauty, but that may not actually be case. I say this because the flowers on Majestic Beauty are SOOOO much bigger, think 2x Little Gem. The Little Gem flowers and leaves are smaller. I noticed the smell, that wonderful classic smell, most from Majestic Beauty. I don't dare stick my nose in too close though, unless I'm sure it's safe. It seems like the bees like the blooms too. It's not like there's a swarm of them, so don't let a few bees deter you. The blooms on Little Gem are gorgeous too, just smaller. In my garden Little Gem is more compact and Majestic Beauty is more open in leaves and branching.

And another plus for Majestic Beauty comes in the fall. The red seeds attract birds. I haven't really noticed seeds on the Little Gem.
pinkspoonbill
Original Author
12 years ago
I ended up getting a Teddy Bear Magnolia grandiflora. Turns out that there really wasn't a whole lot of choice on the availability here in Central AR. Everyone was selling the same cultivars! I could have gotten a Cynthia Wannamaker, as one different one, and the people selling that really noticed the fragrance when planting it.

Pat McCraken recommended Kay Parris, but, again, it is not readily available. She said the flowers were large, like Little Gem, which was confusing to me because I thought Little Gem flowers were on the small side. But, she really recommended Magnolia virginnica (sp?), and I think that's got small flowers, so maybe that was the comparison.

Does anyone know if Magnolia virginnica smells like Magnolia grandiflora - same quality of fragrance? I visited a botanical garden in PA one time, and there were some magnolias I don't remember the species of (not grandiflora) that I thought smelled pretty bad.

Hopefully the Teddy Bear will have flowers that are larger than Little Gem, and hopefully it will flower for a long time. Otherwise, I could have just gotten a Little Gem which is available. I am happy to see the discussion here, too. I was hoping someone who has the room and has multiple cultivars in it would be able to compare and contrast the various ones. It is really hard to shop for a mag grand. No one is familiar with more than one or two cultivars, and most are not familiar with any cultivar in terms of fragrance, bloom size, bloom length, etc.
Dar Sunset Zone 18
12 years ago
I just smelled a few flowers. And it was horrible! It was like burnt rubber/eraser fumes with a drop of lemon scented Lyscol. It made me nauseous too.

Since the tree was not that big and the flowers were low, I think it might be Little Gem. But the flowers were pretty large and had petals at least 7 inches long.

Please help me pick the best cultivar of Magnolia grandiflora

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jeff_al

jimshy

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Please help me pick the best cultivar of Magnolia grandiflora

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jeff_al

jimshy

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subtropix

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pinkspoonbillOriginal Author

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