It's nice to be back. My egg magnolia still hasn't bloomed yet. The only thing I have blooming right now is Alba. It's been giving me at least 6~12 blooms every single night for the past two weeks (even I'm boggled by those numbers, it's never given me so much before). These are fresh picked. :) I'm quite content right now with the varieties I have now. If anything, I consider those Thai Michelia hybrids to be the holy grail. There are hybrids between M. champaca and M. liliifera and cultivars of M. champaca such as 'Sinuan' which according some msgs I read, is very fragrant and on par with Alba, but has a different note to it.

Hi Robert. I did forget to add that Plantogram mentioned it can quickly grow to 20ft tall. I'm hopeful that with root pruning and top pruning I can keep it happy. I have always loved the tropical magnolias and I had considered this tree before. I also wanted to tell you that a friend of mine on F.B. said that m. figo is a nice variety. It is supposed to be a slower grower, and they said that the fragrance is not exactly like banana. I am hoping to get this one someday also. Logees offers a magnolia that resembles the southern magnolia and it is supposed to be winter hardy to zone 5! It is deciduous and it has those nice big white flowers. No, they don't look exactly like the southern magnolia but it looks like it could be close! Fragrance is so subjective! I read that Magnolia grandiflora smells like lemonade! LEMONADE?! REALLY??? I have smelled these blooms many times and I never smelled lemonade! Thanks again for your help. Also on my list this year is brassavola nodosa! What do you think of this orchid?? I have always wanted one and I am hoping to find one soon! I also wanted to update you on my GDS. I potted it up in a 4 in. pot and it is root bound all ready. I just wish it would grow on top! I have yet to see any green growth. I did read that it is a slow grower and I am assuming it is partly because it is acclimating to its new environment. I just hope I can see flowers sometime before the end of the year! Thanks again for sending me to the grower! My jasmine did come in good shape :) Andrew

Radha, I take that back. If I recall correctly, some of the sites those pictures are forum may have had "variety subleana" on them. I didn't think they could possibly be very different. Here's a thread where there are lot of pictures of the leaves. All believe to be M. macclurei, whether they are the regular species or the variety, I'm not so sure. http://www.magnoliathailand.com/webboard/index.php?topic=3529.0 Magnolia macclurei was given the name Champi Sri Dara in Thai on that forum. That means something like "Supreme Star Michelia."

romogen love your photos of M. doltsopa. The flowers are lovely! That is a new one on me. I must look it up right away lol. I always thought Michelia Champaca referred to the more orang-ish flowered Michelia? I bought seeds for that one a few times but never got any to germinate. I found my grafted Michelia Alba a few years ago at a little Asian supermarket I go to, named none other than, La Salsa LOL! I don't know why its named that when its Asian foods but they had all kinds of stuff like shopping baskets full of Jackfruits and lots of nice tropical fruit trees outside. Anyhoo, that Michelia Alba was only $20.oo for grafted and they had non-grafted for $15. You don't normally find stuff like that around here and if you do its usually very expensive. I also have a tree called Nycanthes arbor-tristis (aka Indian night Jasmine, aka Tree of Sorrow) that makes honey scented/jasmine night blooming flowers that fall off in the morning. They are known to be planted around Buddhist Temples. The flowers are white with a neon orange stem. There is an old legend about this tree. I finally got a bunch of cuttings to root last spring so I have several now lol. Here's the flowers