PlantFiles: Magnolia
Magnolia 'Black Tulip'

Zone 9b, Coastal Otago, New Zealand.
This is the NZ Jury hybrid, a small-medium tree with intensely wine coloured upright goblet-style sweetly scented blooms. Here it blooms in very early spring, and is in full swing as I write, mid September. This has got to be one of the outstanding dark hybrids of the last 20 years, serving as parent stock to many new varieties, down here at least, and if you grow it, youll know why. Mine has gone from half a metre to a good three in around 5 years, in indifferent conditions with no special treatment. Has flowered from year one.

It is reliably covered in thick, suede-y wine pink blooms that are highly fragrant, followed by pleasingly tough and shiny leaves. It has a sturdy upright form, a mini-tree rather than a shrub, and I cant recommend it highly enough. If you only have room for one smaller mag, this has got to be a contender- I cant say a bad word about it. Im also growing the variety 'Shirazz', it looks another beauty with more open flowers with a whiter margin to the petals.

See more of our garden at The Blackthorn Orphans.com

I bought this tree about 3 months ago and it has been slowly declining since. It looks like it is getting too much sun or not enough water, which shouldn't be the case since it is on a well-drained sprinkler system and gets only about 4 hours of afternoon sun a day.

I'm baffled.

Monrovia has recently put out a Black Tulip - Magnolia x soulangiana 'Jurmag1'. The Plant Patent has been applied for. Unknown if this is the same plant.

From the Monrovia tag:
- Rich, deep burgundy 6 inch blooms with a unique tulip shape and a heavy texture.
- Flowering in early spring
- Slender multi branched tree to 20ft tall by 10ft wide
- Cold zone 5 - 9, mininum temp -10 degrees F
- Weekly watering, more in extreme heat
- Full sun (which I question in the Southern heat)

I have not yet planted it, but will update as it grows!

I have this tree. Still quite small. Bought it Fall 2006. In the Spring of 2007 we had a terrible freeze so all the leaves died and the flowers all died as well. The leaves did resprout from auxiliary buds, but we didn't get any more flowers that year. This year it has been doing well and the tree although quite columnar is starting to spread out slightly! Hopefully in the next few years it'll really spread out and grow more buds and flowers. So far i am quite pleased!