I think it's less fragrant, possibly a bit hardier, and grows quicker/the same pace and since michelias are essentially trees, it'll grow as big as you allow it to in a container. I think it blooms around this time of year. If you want to know more, I suggest you ask jimshy.

Magnolia dianica by the classification that is up on the Magnolia Society web site. The form I have seen sold is shrubby and spreading, quite different in habit from most others. It blooms small. I bought a budded one in a one gallon pot at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, but it got left out (still in the pot) at a friend's place during hard frosts and died.

I just did a quick Internet Search and found some sites. You may want to Google "Michelia yunnanensis" also for more information. It looks like it is slow-growing and spreading with fragrant flowers. See the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Michelia Yunanensis

I've grown this one in a pot for a year, haven't seen blooms yet, so I can't judge personally; I've read descriptions that run from saying it's one of the best of the genus, to others that use that most elusive description, "lightly fragrant."

It's supposed to be very variable from seed -- some seedlings grow straight up, like mine, others more horizontally, flowers are different size and are either cupped or open and star-shaped. It can definitely be pruned to size and shape; I think it can get up to 15 feet tall in its native habitat, but can be kept at 6 feet, particularly in a pot. blooms in spring, with scattered repeats during the summer, which I hope is true in my case!

I've also read one description that says it's the hardiest of the michelias, potentially hardy in the ground down to zone 6, if it has a long, hot summer to "ripen the wood," whatever that means, but I think for most folks in the states zone 8 is safer.

Hope this helps -- I like the look of m. figo but have never been sold on the scent -- we'll see if this one does it!

Jim

OK, so is M. yunnanensis more or less fragrant than M. figo? I think I may get more M. figos, they are making me so happy right now!

Well a book I saw mentioned yunnanensis as being less fragrant. However it also didn't mention alba as being the most fragrant, just said it was gardenia scented. They said the figo was the star attraction of the group. I'd have an alba if I could, but a: there's no space b: there's nobody who sells it anywhere near.

If several forms of Magnolia dianica are on the market - so far I've only seen the one, low, spreading, shrubby one - there may be variation in fragrance to be gotten from it, just as the growth habit varies. M. figo is said to have a varying aroma as well, on one of the other threads on this forum at the moment.