Magnificant magnolias

When a southerner thinks of a magnolia, the picture that comes to mind is an enormous evergreen that easily fills the front garden and blooms in summer with fragrant white flowers. This native tree certainly deserves its due, but there are many other types of magnolias, especially deciduous magnolias, that also deserve our admiration.

Deciduous magnolias range in size from large shrubs to big trees and are easy to grow. What makes many of them particularly exciting, however, is that they flower so early in the year before their leaves emerge, about the same time as some of our cherries such as Okame (Prunus x) and Autumnalis (Prunus subhirtella), but with showier blooms.

Recently, I had a chance to see just how thrilling these magnolias can be when I visited my friend, Boris Bauer, a magnolia aficionado who lives near Easley. Boris and his wife, Jane, have a large property adjacent to Little Georges Creek filled with many types of deciduous magnolias, as well as bulbs and perennials, rhododendrons and azaleas, and other ornamental plants.

Visiting Boris and Jane each year when these special magnolias are flowering has become one of the great pleasures of my gardening year. Typically, our time together falls in the first weeks of March, but like nearly every other plant, the trees began blooming early this year.

Boris’s call to action went out by email to his large list of friends on February 20 and I skedaddled over as quickly as I could, leery of the forecast. The drawback to early-booming magnolias in the South is that some bloom so early in mild winters that an unexpected freeze kills the flowers prematurely.

In fact, just a few days after my visit, Boris did have a freeze, but was hopeful that the return of mild weather would coax more pretty flowers into bloom.

When shopping for deciduous magnolias, it’s best to choose those that bloom a little later to decrease the odds of cold damage. I’ve picked out two that I think are especially noteworthy.

My favorite type of deciduous magnolia is the saucer magnolia (M. x soulangiana). Typically, saucer magnolias have large pink or lavender flowers that reach up to 8-inches across. The tree, which grows to about 25-feet tall and wide, has smooth gray trunks and graceful low-hanging branches.

Boris has a saucer magnolia named Verbanica that I particularly like. The abundant, cup-shaped flowers, which bloom later than others of its type, are rosy-lavender with white centers and offer a sweet fragrance. The tree has a rounded shape, with the typical low canopy and branches that reach within feet of the ground.

For an even smaller tree, I like the star magnolia (M. stellata), which is often the earliest of the deciduous magnolias to bloom. The star magnolia makes an excellent accent tree for smaller gardens and is especially hardy.

A standout in Boris’s garden is Royal Star, a cultivar that blooms about 2 weeks later than the species with fragrant, white flowers with narrow, strap-shaped tepals. Royal Star is an especially flashy specimen with abundant flowers featuring 25 to 30 segments each.

Other memorable magnolias examined this year included Purple Prince, with especially dark flowers; Schmetterling, with vibrant rose-purple outsides and brilliant white insides; Petite Royal Whisper, with tall narrow buds and particularly refined flowers, and Todd Gresham, with beautifully cupped flowers.

Most early-blooming deciduous magnolias like rich, moist, and well-drained soil, and grow best in full to partial shade. Early spring and fall are good times for planting.  Water well and protect the root zone with mulch.  In the first years of growth, provide supplemental irrigation when rain is scarce.