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| I have been researching saucer magnolias after owning two. I don't know why there are so many color differences, and have only seen a couple of varieties, Ann, Grace McDade, and purple prince.
I am looking for a variety that will have the bright purple flowers, I hate having to check nurseries in spring time to plant when its blooming. I have also read you can prune them when young into a more singular tree like structure avoiding the bushy structure. PH 4.5 to 6 is what I read, is there any way to change the color of blooms? I have seen some that are insanely stunning, others that look really drab and don't know why. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 15:10
| buy the color you want.. you do not TRY to change a color ... i swear i said that earlier this week ... ken |
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- Posted by oceandweller 8B (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 15:52
| Ken, I took your advice on it, but have been looking a lot at the different cultivars. Unlike many trees that are pretty specific with what they look like, they are all over the place. Some plants need high quality soil, some don't, I can't find much info on what type of soil this thing needs, I have both heavy red clay and really nice bed/when I buy one I want to know where to put it. I have noticed the same thing with Southern live oaks, some are more like scrubby coastal Texas, some more like pin, some like south Louisiana/Florida, others huge virginia while many garden centers say "Virgina live oak". There is a huge difference to me between a tree that grows 60 foot wide and 40 foot tall and 30 foot wide and 60 foot tall. I just don't see anywhere online, or any local nurseries that have anything listed other than "ANN", nor is there much research on it. I asked the nursery owner this week and they didn't know much, she is also really smart/very good nursery. I was hoping an expert in the tree could chime in and be like, they prefer this and this for best coloration 10-10-10 etc..., you can amend the soil with this. They like a ph of "X", fertilize at "X" time before bloom. They to me are night and day different than traditional magnolias, with a more Japanese feel to them. I would like to get 5 @ a couple of hundred $, but have noticed that some tend to change color when blooming every year, yes every year, our next door neighbors looked great two years ago, last year like crap. Is it the weather? Last year was really hot but they do water well. They are also one of the first things to bloom in the spring here, far before redbud and are a warm welcome to the early spring in zone 8. I have read they are hard to transplant with a fleshy root system and sense they bloom so early an early frost can kill the flowers. The prettiest tree I have ever seen was a 30 foot Saucer magnolia in uptown new orleans in early February. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/saucer-magnolia-tree.html daves garden has some information on it from people growing them, its the best info I could find. For such a beautiful tree, I just think there would be more info online. outside of... have proper drainage. For example I wouldn't recommend one to anybody in zone 6, or anybody that gets early frosts/high altitude. |
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 16:52
| I am not at all sure you are researching the correct plant :-) 'Saucer magnolia' is just a common name and can be applied to variety of magnolias but is most often used in reference to Magnolia x soulangiana, a hybrid of M. denudata and liliiflora. Research and information will always be most available under the correct name. I've attached a link to one website but there are many with as much information as anyone needs to grow this plant. Soil pH, fertilizer or sunlight will not affect flower color - it is what it is - but various named cultivars will have slightly different colorations. 'Ann' is not a cultivar of soulangiana but a hybrid between M. stellata and liliiflora, one of a series called the 'Little Girls' hybrids. There are many newer Magnolia hybrids on the market, some of which may offer exactly what you are looking for as far as coloring and similar flower shape. Greer Gardens is one of the better sources/resources for hardy magnolia information. http://www.greergardens.com/magnolias1.htm |
Here is a link that might be useful: Magnolia soulangiana
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| There are so many other magnolia varieties that you needn't be focusing on M. x soulangeana (Saucer Magnolia), especially in zone 8B. Besides M. x soulangeana varieties all tend to have a similar form to the parent....broad and spreading rather than pyramidal. 'Jane', 'Ann', 'Susan, & 'Ricki' are smaller growing....not what you were looking for (based on your description). They are also not Saucer Magnolia varieties. Investigate 'Galaxy', 'Royal Crown', & 'Vulcan'!! All are more upright growing and have large purplish flowers. Last few things..... |
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- Posted by oceandweller 8B (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 18:16
| Smivies, I stand corrected totally. I only know of Jane and Ann around here, I have seen some Ricki and they do seem smaller growing varieties from what I have seen. Thank you so much for that info, it was exactly what I was looking for before I spend a couple hundred on the wrong bloody tree, not a 15 foot vs a 25footer "when fully grown". Thank you so much for the information of the cultivars I should be looking at, I really appreciate it a lot. Thank you as well for the link. Thank you so much garden gal, there is a new wave of plants over the last couple of years and its hard to keep up with everything if your not immersed in it. I love this forum, its so nice to give and receive helpful information, I do landscape design and vegetable/edible gardens so if you ever need a hand I am usually helping on the forum :). Thanks, Brad |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 18:35
| I do landscape design ===>>> are you using us for profit??? that mockup of the mini mansion.. is a 'job'??? i like helping peeps in their own garden.. i dont think i like being used ken |
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- Posted by strobiculate none (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 20:18
| you can change/influence the color of a magnolia...it's called spray paint. somehow...methinks the landscape design claim is either a little strong or reinforces my opinion of landscape designers. this is a basic horticultural question...it's such a softball a master gardener could handle it. further reference...Gardiner and Calloway each have books on magnolias...Dirr has perhaps the best quote ever in 6th ed...after viewing the...magnolias, we though we had ascended to heaven. Upon returning to reality, we realized it was only a garden. |
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| Don't worry Ken....we all have to work pretty hard already just to follow your writing style. If someone is comfortable enough with their interpretation of your replies for use in the professional arena, that's on them. Don't get me wrong....you provide excellent feedback and substantial knowledge and experience. It's just a bit difficult to extract it from posts that integrate ambiguity, constructive criticism, and the occasional jab all in your unique double spaced 'slam poetry' form. |
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| The best saucer magnolia is the Japanese selection 'Picture', like a few other higher quality forms it has the erect habit of the Yulan parent - not all of them are broad with a proportion of long low branches. But 'Picture' is likely to be had only from specialists like Gossler and Greer, if no operations of this type happen to be stocking it at a particular time it may not be possible to get it then. 'Brozzonii', an older one from Italy is very similar but without the striking large purple flare marks of 'Picture'. But certainly one of the finest cultivars otherwise. The richest flower color of the Kosar and De Vos hybrids is provided by 'Susan', the habit is also semi-erect and compact. To an extent it has the purple lily magnolia flower on a shrub like the star magnolia. Otherwise, 'Ann' has been said to be the most tree-like of the series. 'Galaxy' is pretty good and is a definite tree, supposed to have been developed for street tree use. Although outlets here have in the past had nice, uniform arrowhead-shaped stock some propagations seen growing in the general landscape have been low forking and bushy. The Ohio State article linked to above talks about 'Alexandrina' as though it were a clonal cultivar with consistent characteristics, when in fact the name has been in use since the 18th century - and applied to multiple different selections over the years. The only feature that may have been shared among them - if it has been - is a tendency to produce an elevated crown of many slender shoots, kind of a candelabra habit. Flowers of plants traded under the name may be the white-and-purple candystick type or the evenly and finely suffused type producing an overall pink or reddish appearance. Both versions have been displayed side-by-side at a local collection. |
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- Posted by oceandweller 8B (My Page) on Mon, Jun 25, 12 at 4:37
| Ken I can see how you could be mistaken on that. Just because your a neurosurgeon doesn't mean you know pediatrics. I like the old greek proverb, it is a wise man who plants a tree in the shade of which he knows he will never sit. That said, Time to go to bed, then tomorrow night do an hour of research on those varieties bboy. Thank you a ton of the help, it was a great read, I will probably be ordering from greer or forest farm upon near completion and trucking in loam, red witch hazel is also pretty hard to get here, but will be looking into the cultivars you mentioned. :)
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- Posted by oceandweller 8B (My Page) on Mon, Jun 25, 12 at 4:54
| Susan is a very nice variety, I will mention it to my nursery friend as I think they would do well here, maybe even one or two in my yard :) I found what to be I guess a newer variety for those that might be looking for the pink/purple I don't know what I was thinking there were only 4-5 saucer magnolia types, there are hundreds of mixes, I guess I just haven't seen that many different varieties in the southeast and most are out of the NW. |
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| Campbell magnolia has a very narrow range of adaptation, may not be possible in Texas at all. 'Lanarth' is an extreme form introduced to Britain from Yunnan in the 1920s and named after the property where it was selected. The original seedling grew tall and narrow and then blew over, after many years of growth. It produces cyclamen purple flowers and has fuzzier parts than usual. I tried one for awhile but found it to be a mite magnet, however there are multiple specimens in the David C. Lam Asian Garden in Vancouver BC. It is set among old native conifers on a rainy bluff right above Howe Sound, a probably rather fair approximation of a Cornish woodland. |
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- Posted by oceandweller 8B (My Page) on Tue, Jun 26, 12 at 15:13
| I just wanted to say thanks bboy for the post again, I have found my variety and it should fit well its not a lanarth/your right about british not doing well here, not even going to say as it seems they might be that hard to get :). Thanks bboy for steering me in the right direction, it only took a little more research, I figured you saved me 2-3 hours "I owe you" :)~. |
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