These are beautiful trees. We has a southern magnolia in our front yard when we lived in S. Louisiana (zn 9b). It spread out and took up half the yard. It was gorgeous. Just dont put it by any sewer or water pipes. Our tree's roots invaded the sewer pipes and we had to redo them. In LA they had a lot of shallow roots near the top of the soil line perhaps because it rains so much in LA. Maybe the roots would go deeper here to seek out water. Also there is alot of litter from the flower pods/cones to deal with. I would still grow it again though because the flowers are gorgeous and smell heavenly. The japanese (pink) magnolias stay smaller I think, and some are fragrant. Don't know about the root systems but would keep them away from water pipes too. I recently saw some type of yellow butterfly magnolia tree that looks pretty. I always figured magnolias liked moist, acidic soil but I guess if people can grow camelias and azeleas here they can grow magnolias too. ~SJN

@jane_ny wow that's a change in temperature! I read up a lot on companion plants for my roses I planted and I love delphiniums but I always saw they were fussy divas and would never survive past zone 6 or 7.... So I was shocked to see them at my small, neighborhood lowes. They were even selling them as perennials, but I doubt they will make it past our brutal July-August. I HAD to get them to at least try as annuals at such a great price. We will see how long they make it! Do you have any tips for growing these since I hear they are heavy feaders, should I use some fish emulsions on them in 4 weeks? Also are they water hogs? The bed I put them in gets overhead watering 3 times a week for 10 mins each time, along with whatever rain we get (at least once a week lately). Thanks for any tips you may have!

"Perhaps this is destined to remain a horticultural mystery with no ready explanation for what happened." I'm not sure we quite have to declare it a mystery yet. My guess is this is multifactorial: that at some point...or I should say at various points (!)...either in Ruth's yard or at the nursery, the plant might have been both mechanically damaged, and/or subject to freezing during growth, and/or burned by winter sun. And as per typical nursery practice these days, it would have been "optimally" fertilized for maximum speed container growth, which I am quite convinced is not always "optimal" fertilization for winter cold resistance!* Combined these factors, the ability to fully outgrow the damage, and make it through winter, was compromised...even if one incident was some months before the other(s). OTOH take my 'Judy Zuk' whose trunk developed a serious and very alarming looking sun scald/frost crack during the 2nd cold winter (somewhat belying the notion they are solid zn 5 plants, given that in both cold winters it never went below 0F here) - I wasn't even sure it would survive, but it has quickly sealed off the wound and in a couple more years I doubt it will even be noticeable. I'll try to grab a picture later if I remember. Btw that injury was after its first winter in the ground, which was only 1 year after grafting. I think it's quite reasonable to assume that grafted magnolias, whatever their agreed upon hardiness rating, are a little more sensitive in the first couple years after grafting. Though Ruth's plant looks too big for that to be a factor now, it might have been during the time it faced whatever challenge it first faced. And btw in my humble opinion, it is quite possible for a plant to leaf out in spring, even though it's already doomed by that point. I've seen it with winter damaged things. * - surely there is no need for me to rehash the story of the same Camellia cultivar which survived with only minor burning here, in the first cold winter (2013-2014)...but was killed to the ground, unable to even sprout from the roots, at Longwood! Same lows in that particular winter, it's only 40 minutes away! Also their plant was sheltered by building walls, mine was not. The caretaker admitted to me they'd rushed it into fast growth because they needed to get it blooming for breeding purposes.

I grew up in Cleveland, similar in climate to Detroit, and now live in NH. Based on my experience with Magnolias, I would suggest that you look into either the Magnolia x loebneri hybrids or the Girls hybrids (Jane, Ann, Ricki, Susan, etc.) bred at the National Arboretum. IME the saucer magnolias (M. x soulangeana) will periodically get hit by frost since they are so early. Even here on the northern edge of zone 5, that isn't usually an issue with the x loebneri Magnolias. I also think that the M. stellata selections should be fine. All bloom later than M x soulangeana and so are less likely to end up as brown mush due to frost. Here are some resources I often use for research on woody plants: Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder is the most comprehensive I've found, allows you to either type in just the plant name or to select certain characteristics you are looking for such as height, fall color, evergreen, flowers, etc. When I put in Magnolia, I got a list of 56 plants back, and you can click on any of them to get a full page about it. I like that they often comment on issues such as frost or drought tolerance or disease resistance, and IME their size estimates are reasonable, though their cold tolerance/zone can be off a little bit for me since my growing conditions are so different. UConn Plant Database isn't nearly as complete in info as MOBOT but is another resource I've found to have reliable info. I use the online search option for Arnoldia, the publication of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston for another source that's relatively local to my area. Great Plant Picks is geared toward the Northwest US, but if the plant is hardy for me, I often find the info there useful. If a plant has been give a Cary Award, I often find the listing useful to read, particularly since it is geared towards my part of the country. Likewise, I find that if Louis the Plant Geek has reviewed a plant, it is worth reading about it. If a plant has been written about at Paghat's Garden, it's worth reading even though the author is in the Pacific NW, zone 8. Finally, I really enjoy perusing the books of Michael Dirr, a professor emeritus from the Dept of Horticulture, U of GA. I find his writing both opinionated and entertaining, though I don't always agree with him, and since he lived in the midwest for a while, his experience will apply to your area. My favorite is the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, which though expensive will be useful if you want to research more than one kind of plant. I really like wandering through it and it has introduced me to many wonderful plants. If I want to see color photos of a plant in MWLP, I use a web search. He has also published books on Hydrangeas as well as more accessible, less technical books with color photos on woody landscape plants north and south that you might find at a library. I think there's also a related app.