We make a big fuss over cherry blossoms in Vancouver. But we ought to be making just as much fuss about magnolias since they are just as magnificent.
Some years ago, I planted a beautiful Yellow Bird magnolia in front of my house. After a harsh winter, I thought it had died but up from nowhere sprang a whole new tree.
What I didn’t expect was to have two trees growing in the same spot – the yellow-flowering magnolia, which blooms in May, and another, more aggressive tree that experts have helped me identify as a form of M. sargentiana robusta, which flowers in April.
You can see here how magnificent the blooms of this tree look at the moment and the blooms of the Yellow Bird that will start to appear next month.
I have also planted a Magnolia lilliflora many years ago that still produces smaller, less robust purple flowers in March.
If I had to do it all over again, I would try to find room for the superb white flowers of M. sieboldii and I really wish I had found room for some form of M. stellata, the star magnolia, another gorgeous white. Good varieties include ‘Royal Star’, Donna and Encore.
Many people, of course, admire the saucer magnolia, M. soulangeana, particularly the shorter varieties in the Little Girl series, such as Susan, Ricki, Betty, Ann and so on.
Other terrific saucer magnolias include Coates, Picture and M. sprengeri Diva, which is really perfect for a park or estate garden where there is a lot of room.
And I know many experts think there is no finer white magnolia and M. kobus, partciularly a cultivar called Wada’s Memory. Other people absolutely admire the soft pink flowers of Leonard Messel and Jane Platt. You’ll find Caerhays Belle and Daybreak to be two other exceptional cultivars.
Yellow magnolias are still popular. Look for Yellow Bird and Butterflies but also Elizabeth and Sunburst.
An excellent ruby red cultivar, perfect for coastal gardens, is Vulcan, which is also highly rated by magnolia connoisseurs.
But whichever magnolia you choose, you will have a fabulous display to look forward to every spring.
Worth the effort, I think.
swhysall@hotmail.com
