The original tree is 15 minutes drive from my house in cherryville pa....the only place that I seen selling it was rare finds nursery in New Jersey

Hi,

Subtropix, I have heard of those three cultivars; Brackens and Edith are available locally. My concern is that the wind off the mountain to my west might effectively make my 6b area a 6a zone for magnolias. That's why I am searching for the "Poconos" cultivar as my first choice. "Victoria" is my preferred alternative at the moment.

Viper114, can you give me more information about where the original tree is, so I can visit it myself? I live about an hour from the Poconos and would like to see it. Is it in a nursery? I checked Rarefind in 2015, it was not offered then.

The original tree grows on 615 blue mountain drive in cherryville pa at a private residence a few houses down from a turkey hill gas station...you can't miss it....you can see the tree pretty good using google street view....the tree is about 20-25 feet tall and is on the corner of the house. It does not seem to be bothered by cold temps.... I never seen any die back from it

Thanks! I found a picture of it, on the left corner of the front of a house close to the road. A pretty exposed-lookiing spot, and it certainly does seem healthy, very encouraging to me. I sure hope someone can tell me a nursery is still selling it, or someone has rooted some cuttings from that tree.

If you can't find it magnolia Virginiana 'northern belle' or 'Henry hicks' look similar

Magnolia virginiana though is deciduous or semi-deciduous (depending on the variety and the climate). I have one M. virginiana in a Zone 7 and it is fully deciduous (though leaves linger late into the Fall.

In addition, to cold tolerances, you also have to consider snow load tolerances (especially HEAVY, WET snow). Guessing 'Poconos' is good for this concern as well. I do know that of the cultivars with which I am familiar, E Bogue is fine with snow loads, as is Victoria (which actually came out of British Columbia, Canada..., not immune to wet snows there btw).

Viper114, I actually have M. virginiana "Northern Belle," a 5-footer in the ground for two years now that still has almost all of its leaves in this atypically mild winter. When you say "NB" looks similar to "Poconos," are you referring to the limb structure? What I want most of all from a grandiflora is the shiny leaves and fragrant flowers, and am pretty sure those features will differ from "Northern Belle." Maybe the fragrance quality too. Did you ever stop and sniff? :-)

Unusual for a grandiflora is the limbed-up look of the "Poconos" in Cherryville. I wonder if that was a pruner's decision, or is the natural way the tree develops.

Subtropix, your comment about snow loads is a good one. I have read some reports of Brackens with broken limbs after a heavy snow, causing me to lean instead to Poconos, Victoria and Edith Bogue, in that order.

I am surprised that your M. virginiana still has leaves! It is an interesting species with a lot of apparent genetic variation. Had the same very mild season as you but no leaves on my virginiana.

I don't have any Bracken's Brown so I cannot report on that cultivar. (My worst varieties for snow have been Teddy Bears and Green Giant. The latter one was eventually cut down because it had such bad tolerance for snow.)

Regarding fragrance, I personally find virginiana to be MORE potent than grandiflora..., but they are not nearly as attractive or large.

This is a flower from one of the Teddy Bears.

Does anyone know how old that original Poconos is?

I read it was there before the current owners moved in

I had 'Edith Bogue' up to about 2' tall - until a wet snow load peeled it like a banana. Around here anyway the key to snow resistance of southern magnolias - it being USDA 8 this area has thousands of planted examples to observe, including some pretty old ones - seems to a large extent to be compact, bushy, or otherwise more apparently structurally reliable growth.

It isn't known where the 'Victoria' name came from (or when it was first used), with certainty - sources rattling off origin statements for this plant do not have in-depth information. And since the name has been used for nursery stock over a wide area since at least the 1920s more than one type of 'Victoria' appears to have been described by commercial literature over the years - as is often the case with cultivars that become popular, experience commercial longevity.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if more than one, distinctly different version was on the market in different places right now.

Sweet bay is a whole other kettle of fish, much more delicate in aspect. There are kinds that produce big evergreen leaves in the north and others that produce small deciduous leaves in the south - native ones I saw in Orlando once consisted of a couple of short main branches sprinkled with a few leaves and a couple flowers, peeping out from beneath taller shrubs huddling together in a moist depression.

As they say, East is East and West is West. My Edith Bogue has seen heavy, WET snow over a decade..., never any damage..., NONE. M. grandiflora needs tropical HEAT in the growing season for the wood to ripen and survive the rigors of Winter.

My Victoria's branches bend & recover. The worst wet snow broke a couple minor branches, but nothing significant. Pic below spring 2015:

Thank you, everyone, for all the helpful comments. Where I'm at now is waiting for one nursery to get back to me about my inquiry about whether they offer "Poconos." If they don't offer it and have no clue who might, as a fallback an arboretum suggested they could give me scion and have someone graft it for me. Regardless of whether I take that route, I now expect to get a Victoria from some nursery this Spring.

Watch out for seedlings of no longer in the mainstream southern magnolia clones being sold in their place.

hi. i am a nursery grower and i have them available. Call Mountain Paradise Nursery in Creston NC for details. (Google Maps)