Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora).

What is your gardening zone? They will only grow in zones 6b/7 and higher.
There are dozens of cultivars that differ in terms of appearance, and cold tolerances. In Zone 7, where the tree is perfectly hardy I see BIG differences in tolerances for wet snow and ice--also potential issues in the South btw. Best for heavy, wet snows are probably 'Victoria' and Edith Bogue. Bracken's Brown too is popular here. The one in the picture is Victoria which has reddish leaf buds (like on Ficus elastica). The heavy wet snow issue is more an issue here than absolute cold.--Good wind tolerances though, all mine with though Sandy with no damage.

This post was edited by njoasis on Sun, Sep 1, 13 at 10:21

njoasis, a nice 'Victoria' -- similar to mine. Not a single problem here in z6 and fully exposed to the wind.

Nice butterfly bushes behind, too.

Specimen asked about has leaf shape of 'Samuel Sommer'.

"They will only grow in zones higher than 6b/7."

That is not true. Southern Magnolias have done fine here in Knoxville, with little to no dieback even in temperatures as low as -24F (back in the winter of 1985). We used to be in zone 6. Some selections are hardier than others, but even species trees (not selected for exceptional hardiness) did pretty well here back in '85.

I have a species tree planted as a tiny stick. It is not one bred for cold and it has been years since the cold defoliated it. Actually the cold has never completely defoliated it, but a few times I wish it had. Worse than defoliation is semi-defoliation. Ratty broken random brown leaves pathetically clinging to the branches looks really really bad. We are still firmly in zone 6. As the tree has grown, the cold seems to affect it less. BTW, what the photo shows is the seed head, in case you are waiting for bloom.