PlantFiles: Chinese Magnolia
Michelia doltsopa

Zone 9b coastal Otago New Zealand
I love my Michelia with an immoderate passion; it is handsome 90% of the year, its perfume pervades your entire garden with what can only be described as pagan loveliness and the blooms are drop-dead beautiful to boot. If you dont like the smell of magnolias etc, avoid these guys- they will drive you crazy with the intensity of the perfume.

Mine grows in deciduous shade for most of the day and yet is smothered from head to foot in pearly white blooms every spring, with a slight tendency to go over-the-top in this respect every second year. In a sheltered position the flowers can persist for three months.
The long, deep green leaves are also pleasing, being useful for floral arrangement etc.
Cultivation as per magnolias, though I find they take more shade and flower for longer. Tree goes through a sad little period of exhaustion after flowering, turning a bit yellow and dropping leaves etc, but this is its normal semi-deciduous cycle; blood and bone and some rotted manure is appreciated at bud burst.
Like many of the magnolia type trees it is a creature of the forest and doesnt flourish out on its own- give it shelter and company for best results. Ive seen some battered, sickly specimens blasted by full sun and exposure and they barely resemble their optimum form.
Dont be afraid to buy those yellow sale specimens languishing at the nursery- they will come right with a year's attention.

A slow growing tree closely related to Magnolia. However instead of bearing flowers only at the end of the branches they are borne along the branches in the axils of the leaves. In winter the flower buds have furry bronze colored coverings. Like all Magnolias, it is a little messy; but, the fragrance makes it worth the trouble.