I would get a leaf from one and put pressure on the home depot staff. Besides that, I hope someone on here can help. That makes me mad when the peeps where you get a plant can't tell you what it is. Unless they were so busy on the register, they should know some of the plants names by summer. They are shaped like the Northern Catalpa, but I am not sure that is what they are. N. Catalpa has heart shaped leaves, and the seed pods are like EXTRA Long green beans. Good Luck finding out what it really is.

I was going to suggest catalpa as well as they don't have many branches when young and the leaf shape seems right. But for id, better to take a picture of a leaf from the top group of leaves, not from this basal growth.

Deciduous magnolia.

Not catalpa. kenptn's guess is better.

geez poaky ... you expect a hardwarepeep.. to know a lot of info about the pots slung out on the blacktop ...

the real question farmboy ... is if it was grafted ... and if what is sprouting is something fine/foo foo .... or understock ... which still might be OK ...

without a pic of the whole ... its hard to say.. do you see any evidence of a graft low or high???

i dont know what it is.. the only full leaf is obscured by the folded on on top ...

ken

Deciduous 'saucer-type' magnolias (Magnolia x soulangiana) -- and especially named varieties such as âÂÂAnnâÂÂ, âÂÂBettyâÂÂ, âÂÂJaneâÂÂ, âÂÂJudyâÂÂ, âÂÂPinkieâÂÂ, âÂÂRandyâÂÂ, âÂÂRickiâ and âÂÂSusanâ are often grafted.

So if that's what it is, what you're seeing could be rootstock growth. If that's the case it needs to be removed. Otherwise it will take over and not bloom like the selection that was grafted onto it.

Looks like it could almost be a Persimmon as well - which is also grafted. But Asian persimmons are likely not hardy in your region.

Thanks....

In all fairness to the Homie Despot folks, they tried, but since they are only part-timers, they really don't know. And there were no stickers or tags on either tree, only a price sign with no other identifying info other than a marked-down price. It did say Flowering Trees, however. Looking at the attached photo up close, there appears to be either a graft union or another large branch that was removed.

The leaves looked large like Catalpa, but thicker. Most Magnolias I've seen for sale are shorter, with more branches, where these looked like 6'7- tall, thick whips. Maybe they were grown/pruned tor this kind of growth?

I'll try to find some others if I stop by a HD store again.

Thanks,

vince

I dunno how outlets get by with no tagging on woody stock. Our state's nursery licenses (and you must get one whether you grow, or distribute perennial stock) insists that they be 1) without disease or pest 2) sized appropriately for their containers with viable root systems and last but not least TAGGED AND IDENTIFIED with their names whether it be the common name or binomial system. Both growing lots and sales lots are supposed to be routinely inspected to see that they meet those criteria as well.

Looks like a deciduous magnolia to me. 'Felix' was the popular one with big leaves offered in large sizes at Lowes last year.

Okay, I came across another of these at a different store. Same thing, no labels, tags, etc. Probably fell off as they often do. The people at the store were nice, but had no idea what it is.

So I took pictures of the leaves, and the lower part of the trunk. Any better guesses?

vince

And here's a shot of the lower trunk....

But there is some kind of label in the last pic, doesn't that say anything about what kind of magnolia it is?

As previously stated, it's one of the deciduous saucer/Little Girl type magnolias.
No way in lleh I'd pay $5 for that sucker, much less $59.

The first picture shows two leaves in the process of getting sunburned, with the rest soon to follow.
Without a label, they're almost worthless. Look at seedling grown upright Japanese Maples. They have no name and are priced way way lower than named varieties.....if they're even offered.
I wouldn't buy those pictured for $5 either.
Mike

Thanks! The label just says "Flowering Tree". I had no idea what they are and was really curious. Some type of magnolia was all I was thinking. It looks like they were trying to develop something that was tall and tree-like rather than a shrub variety. The leaves were interesting and different too, but I am still a rookie to ID'ing many trees..

vince

Just saw a bunch of magnolia labeled "black tulip" that looked much like this tree at a HD yesterday.