PlantFiles: Southern Magnolia
Magnolia grandiflora

WAY overplanted tree here in Southern California, where it is one the city's favorite landscape trees, in some misguided effort to make LA remind them of the east coast perhaps? Whatever the reason, this tree does fairly well here, though never looks as great as it does in the deep south. Leaves fall off at the untraditional time of Spring, so leaf raking plans should be made for then. Some large trees seem to lose their entire set of leaves over a month, while growing new leaves at a rapid rate (so the tree is never leafless).

I personally dislike this tree because I have one in my yard and it drops huge leaves on my plants below, and I didn't plant it (street tree).. but the city never trims it, so it looks terrible. But if well trimmed, it can be a gorgeous tree.

'Little Gem' is a cultivar which reaches 20' tall and 10' wide and blooms at a very young age. Blooming is heaviest in Spring and continues throughout Summer and into Fall. One year the blossoms on 'Little Gem' barely escaped a snowfall!

'DD Blanchard' grows to 30' tall and 20' wide. Its leaves are larger and even glossier than those of 'Little Gem.' DDB's flowers wait for about 3 years to bloom; while it doesn't have nearly the same number of blooms as 'Little Gem,' the flowers are larger and more volumptuous. Both trees are gorgeous and easy to grow, but be careful when purchasing these magnolias; we purchased 'DD Blanchard' by mistake, being assured it was 'Little Gem.'

As the magnolias age, the leaves drop more heavily, but cleanup isn't nearly as arduous as that mandated by my neighbor's poorly sited Sycamore!

One of the best Southern trees. The huge white flowers have few rivals and the evergreen leves are impressive. Almost every yard in my area seems to have them. They look at their best when allowed to grow naturally and branch all the way down the trunk to the ground, so provide plenty of room!

I was very surprised to see magnolias growing and blooming in Hawaii. I never thought of it as a "tropical" plant, but they do quite well here. They seem to bloom more often here throughout the year than the ones I had growing in my yard in SC, where I lived for many years.

Magnolias grow very tall and wide here in zone 7a extreme southern Illinois. The Mag's also bloom continuosly during the summer. Although they grow slow, their well worth the wait!

I rate it a 5

I do love Magnolias. Along with Live Oaks and Bald Cypress, they rank as the best of the southern trees. However, in heavy wet soils like we have here in New Orleans, Magnolias face lots of stress and it shows by making the tree susceptable to scale insects. These are very difficult to treat and make the tree unsightly.

I LOVE this tree! The fragrance of the huge white blooms is incredible. One bloom will make an entire room smell good.

This is the traditional Magnolia of the southern U.S., blooming with fragrant, creamy white flowers in the spring and intermittently throughout early summer. M. grandiflora is the state flower of Louisiana and Mississippi. The large (4"-8" long) and broad leaves are a lighter colored and pliable when young, aging to a darker color and leathery texture.

With such broad leaves, Magnolias need protection from wind. Carefully consider their eventual size (and the deep shade they cast) when positioning them in your yard. Some gardeners limb up the trees, while others allow the lower brances to remain.

Either way, they're a beautiful (if imposing) presence in the landscape, and their leaves and seed pods provide beautiful holiday decoration material.