Planted a second one in spring 2008
Blooms are supposed to have a lemon fragrance. This cultivar is supposed to be more cold hardy. I got the first one from Forestfarm as a 5 gal. container, but I lost one side of branches taking it out of the packing box, leaving an unevenly branched, spindly sapling.
I then found a nicer fuller one at Moscarillo’s and planted that in spring ‘08 outside the bedroom window.
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| 9/6/2009 The one from Moscarillo's by the window |
The smaller sapling from Forestfarm is at the corner of the house by the bulkhead door.
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| August 7, 2009. This is the original sapling from Forestfarm, still misshapen |
It's a pretty, graceful tree and the silver undersides of the waxy deep green leaves give it a glittery look in a breeze.
If the leaves get leaf miner prune them off and destroy the infected leaves, don't let them drop and winter over on the ground.
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| blooming 6/10/11, but still no fragrance |
I love seeing this tall but open tree as I look out the bedroom window.
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| 6/29/11 |
The worst season for sweetbay magnolia is April and the first half of May. When everything else is leafing out and looking so nice, this magnolia finally lets its evergreen leaves go, and the plant looks wimpy and sparse.
By the end of May it leafs back out and looks full. In June the creamy flowers form. I spoke to Don Forde at Stonegate Landscaping and he says his straight species sweetbay magnolias smell heavenly in bloom.
I guess when 'Moonglow' was bred for hardiness it sacrificed fragrance. These pretty fat blooms simply have no smell.
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| 6/26/12 |
It's evergreen, sort of. In winer the leaves stay on the tree, slightly browned, although in a very deep cold spell (below zero) they start to fall off.
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| 12/30/12 The smaller one at the corner, holding leaves through winter |
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| 9/29/13 |
2013 was the first year that any fall color appeared, and it was jewel-like, a rich mix of gold and caramel and green, turning to deep russet brown.
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| 11/17/13 |
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| 11/17/13 |
Finally! In late June in 2014 I caught just a whiff of light scent from the blooming sweetbay by the bedroom window. Lovely, but fleeting. Very fleeting.
Both trees remain open branched, the one around the corner is still much smaller. The one by the bedroom window is getting quite tall. It remains a narrow tree, perfect for this spot by the house.
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| 9/26/14 |
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| 7/23/15 |
In late October 2015 I pruned both trees. First, I removed a low, awkward branch on the larger tree, and that ended up creating a tall skinny stick of a tree, but I guess it is better (shapelier?). Second, I was trying to get the leaning half of the smaller one away from the house, and ended up taking off fully half of the tree's structure.
Here are both, after the rather drastic pruning.
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| 10/26/15 |
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| 10/30/16 - showing the two different sweetbays |
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| 11/7/16 |
