Dirty Fingers Muddy Knees | Magnolia Sunsation

2021 Magnolia Collection

by Susan | Apr 2, 2021 | Plants I Dig

I love magnolias. They are seductive and diverse little gems of the garden. I am eagerly awaiting this collection of Magnolias to make their appearance this spring!

Mactophylla has the largest bloom and is a dwarf form of the Bigleaf Magnolia and some botanists list Ashe as a subspecies of Bigleaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla ssp. ashei). Ashe Magnolia trees are very similar to Bigleaf Magnolia trees except that they tend to grow much shorter and flower at a younger age. The flowers and leaves are still just as large, with the leaves growing up to two feet long and the flowers more than a foot in diameter!

I love the yellow flower with pink in the base, like the sun rise. 15-20 feet high

Magnolia Sunburst is a very floriferous tree and is regarded as excellent! The deep canary-yellow flowers have narrow tepals that open just as the foliage starts to open, making the tree look like it’s covered in glowing yellow candles. Heavy textured foliage begins a rich bronze-purple. Fast, upright grower to 30′.

mangnolia yellow bird plantswoman design

Magnolia ‘Yellow Bird’ boasts bright canary yellow flowers which appear more dependably since they emerge with the foliage late in the spring after the danger of frosts. Full Sun, up to 40 feet high with 3 1/2 inch flowers.

Magnolia Ann’s flowers range from deep pink to purple. It grows in shrub-like form instead of a tree. Up to 15 feet in height.

Laevifolia is a small structured tree covered in miniature magnolia blooms. Excellent small scale evergreen Magnolia with handsome rounded leaves touched with brown indumentum (fur). In mid spring masses of large 4″ ivory white intensely fragrant flowers explode all over tree. The flowers have a rich and penetrating lemon aroma. About 9 feet at mature height.

Maudiae is one of the easier winter blooming evergreen Magnolias to grow in mild climates. Large, 6 in., pure white flowers are very fragrant (lemon) and arranged along the branches, rather than at branch tips. A Maudiae will form small trees or work well as potted specimens. They do well on the West Coast and in the Southeast.

Read more about the Magnolias that have made appearances in my gardens over the years.

The Suductive Magnolia

Growing In My Greenhouse

by Susan | Jun 9, 2017 | plants, Plants I Dig

Often, I find myself loving a plant that is hard to find. I also really want to put unusual garden worthy plants into the designs I do. I started last year to grow some of the things I love to use in my own greenhouse. While I may not be an experienced grower, I can grow shrubs and trees that come to me as whips or bare root. Dividing my own perennials and seedlings are easy and can be a great addition to my designs.

This year I’ve started growing several trees in the greenhouse. They are small but easily transplanted after they fill out to the edges of the containers they are in.

One of my clients suggested I might make them available to purchase to all clients instead of keeping them for just design work. So, my private venture into growing is now available to anyone.

Here are a few of the lovely things in my greenhouse now…

All things Magnolia are wonderful. This year the one plant I couldn’t find was Magnolia Sunsation. I saw it at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show two years ago at full size and it was truly amazing. A sunny yellow with blush of orange/pink makes is ‘sunsational’. Zone 5 – 9, 20 – 30 feet high with 8 – 10 feet in spread. Grows best in sun or part shade. Perfect for a small garden.

Available in 5 gallon pots and are currently about 2 feet tall for $ 27.00

Cercis canadensis ‘The Rising Sun’ looks like the rising sun. Surprising name huh? I have grown this for 2 years and still love every aspect of it. From the early emerging yellow buds to the amazing fall color it is crazy cool. Soft yellow and peach combine as the leaves come out turning to green at full leaf. The process starts over again as the cool fall weather starts. Zones 6-9 growing in sun or part shade. Tiny pink flowers in early spring it grows into 10-15 feet tall with a spread of 10 -15 feet. Again, perfect for a small garden.

Available in 5 gallon pots and are currently about 3 feet tall for $35.00

Magnolia ‘Fairy Magnolia Cream’. Known sometimes as michelia this magnolia is a small structure evergreen Magnolia. It has an upright tidy habit with highly perfumed cream flowers. I originally purchased one from Cistus Nursery in Oregon. It was like a mini Magnolia grandiflora. The evergreen leaves have brown fuzzy indumentum on the back of the leaves and creamy fragrant flowers, similar to Magnolia grandiflora. This versatile shrubby tree can be used as a specimen or even hedged. Grows in zone 7b – 11 growing to 9 -12 feet in height and 7-9 ft in width. Happy with sun or shade does best with moderate moisture levels in the summer.

Available in 5 gallon pots and are currently about 3 feet tall for $25.00

Magnolia ‘Honey Tulip’ is another amazing magnolia with fabulous honey color on the blooms. It is actually a golden version of ‘Black Tulip’ with the same habits and goblet shaped flowers. Blooming in early spring on bare wood it loves a sunny position with protection from strong winds. Zone 5 -9, 20-30ft high and 8-10 feet in spread. Honey Tulips is a stunning little tree that begins flowering at an early age.

Available in 5 gallon pots and are currently about 2 feet tall for $80

Cornus capitata ‘Mountain Moon’ is, believe it or not, an evergreen Dogwood. Take everything you love about a dogwood and make it beautiful year-round. The creamy flowers cover the tree in mid spring and will take sun or light shade. It is tough enough to handle some wind and will grow to 30 feet tall eventually. Zones 8a or down to 15 degrees or less. This has been reliably hardy is many areas of the Puget sound. Slow growing it likes some water in the summer.

Available in 5 gallon pots and are currently about 2 feet tall for $30

Fagus sylvatica ‘Dawyck Gold’ is a beautiful golden beech tree. Being a narrow variety of beech it can be used as a specimen or in a hedge. Fagus is a traditional hedge in Europe. While not evergreen, it can be very twiggy so it remains a good hedge even when not in leaf. The Dawyck Gold has a great color that contrasts well with the plain variety. Good in zones 4-9 growing to 50 feet in height while maintaining a 6 – 15 ft width. It likes full sun to light open shade with regular water.

Fagus sylvatica Dawyck Gold in 5 gallon pots $33.00

Fagus sylvatica (larger variety but easy to keep hedged) in 5 gallon pots $12.00

I hope you enjoy looking these lovely plants up and discovering the new varieties that I’m adding to client gardens. I’m happy to share what is growing in the greenhouse now. I can also supply plants that are grown from other local growers if needed.

Happy Gardening!

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The Seductive Magnolia

by Susan | Apr 15, 2016 | plants

I’m not from the south but I could be. I love the beautiful flowers of magnolias. When My oldest moved to South Carolina with her husband I had my first over the top magnolia experience. Walking downtown Beaufort the overwhelming scent of sweet lemony magnolia was amazing. Since that time it has been a bit of a passion to have magnolias in my garden.

In South Carolina one of the most planted magnolias is the ‘Magnolia Grandiflora’. It is a lovely evergreen with large flowers and glossy green leaves. The blooms are bigger than your hand and creamy white. The trees can grow very large and somehow manage to escape the winds of hurricanes. I love the cultivar ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’, both are more compact and able to handle the load of our occasional snow without broken branches.

A favorite from just a few years ago is the Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’. This is a cultivar that I’ve been planting about 5 years. Monrovia Nursery is now growing and selling it. I love the dark red/pink color. Now if you know me I’m not a big fan of pink. I like colors to be what they are. Either red or white, pink seems between colors not either.

This lovely tree was planted last year and it seems like it responded well to partial sun instead of full sun. The one I had planted in my old garden was not as saturated in color as this one. I think there is a definite benefit from the partial shade it gets in the morning.

One of the first to bloom in my garden is the Magnolia maudaie. This has a little brown on the edge of the blossoms now because it was blooming in the beginning of March. We have had a couple of cold days since it bloomed and the frost damaged the blooms just slightly. The blossoms are well worth the trouble if they don’t get a late frost.

A relative of the Magnolia is the Michelia which looks like a mini Magnolia. The outside of each blossom is covered in a fuzzy dark brown sheath. The blossoms, while small, are still beautiful, creamy, and fragrant. The evergreen leaves are glossy miniature versions of the Magnolia grandiflora. The delicate stamens and petals are amazingly like the bigger magnolias.

Now on my list is a new cultivar called Magnolia Sunsation. I saw it at the Northwest flower and garden show this year. After the show I tried to find the cultivar but ended up calling the company that had them in the display garden. I’m ready to go next week and pick up a 12-foot specimen. I’m excited to have a cultivar this new in my garden.

Here are the particulars (source): During the 2011 Magnolia Society meeting in Rhode Island, a majority of ladies in the crowd raved about this abundant bloomer with its rosy-accented flowers. It’s a wonderful selection due to the warm color tones, blooming later than any of the other yellows and before the emergent leaves. August Kehr, the hybridizer, would have never accepted much credit for this plant he created, but he deserves all our thanks for his exceptional work, including this plant. Interesting story: On the way to see Augie from Raleigh, NC Pat McCracken and Mark Krautmann decided to accept August’s invitation to name all of his (at that time, only numbered) superior yellows. Before we got to Hendersonville, where he and his wife lived, we came up with Stellar Acclaim, Sunsation, Solar Eclipse, Hot Flash, and Sunspire. Augie was too modest to name his own “children”. Flower Color: Yellow Zones: 5-9 Growth Habit: Tree Height: 20-30 Spread: 8-10 Light Needs: Sun-Shade Flowering Season: Spring Leaf Color: Green

These wonderful plants are good contributors to the garden. The structure of trees is important in the layering of the garden. They also provide shade where needed. Color at different times of the year, whether in leaf or in flower is a good addition to the garden.