Probably in your climate you will get the appearance of the flowers appearing well before the leaves. But they will not be buttercup or even daffodil yellow. And the flowers can look a little small and stubby, which is probably why it was called "Butterflies" - the somewhat shortish-looking flowers appearing to flutter on the branches.

There are many yellow magnolia hybrids on the market now, do some research first to see which ones have the attributes that appeal to you specifically.

Note also that if these are at a big box store they may not be labeled correctly. This year I saw a block of one yellow magnolia cultivar tagged two different varieties. Last year I saw a sweet bay magnolia tagged 'Elizabeth'.

I planted mine in 2006 and it has been slow to get established. It produced a few flowers last year, but nothing this year. Like most of my magnolias, it seems to resent being stuck this far north. From what I've seen, the flowers are a very nice yellow. They're a much deeper yellow than 'Elizabeth'. BTW, I just talked to a guy who swears that 'Yellowbird' is a better yellow than 'Butterflies', and also a much more vigorous plant. His Butterflies died on him, so I think that may have something to do with his negative attitude towards it. Here's a pic of flower from my Butterflies.

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I know what you mean about some flowers that claim to be yellow, but are more of a cream. Some yellow petunias come to mind. Anyway, this plant has yellow flowers. I, too, found it very slow to establish, but has since become quite vigorous. It flowers later than the other magnolias in my yard and has had no frost damage since I planted it in 2004. Nice fragrance too.

Ginkgonut,

I find it encouraging that yours has become more vigourous and I guess I'll have to be patient with it (not exactly a strong suit of mine). BTW, I picked up a M. obovata on Thursday. Not much information available, but reference book where I bought it said it was one of the more northerly growing magnolias, and comparable to M. kobus for hardiness. Any experience with this one by chance?

Bob

You will also find it frequently described under M. hypoleuca. It is one of the most ornamentally important of the wild species, the best garden plant among the big-leaved (umbrella) types. Like the others of its group it is a commanding plant with large leaves needing to be placed out of the wind, where - once it reaches flowering size - its strong floral fragrance will waft a considerable distance on mild late spring-early summer days.

No experience with M. obovata

I had a small M. tripetala grown from seed of from a tree in Saint Paul for a while, but the rabbits took it out. I may try again one of these years.

Ah, yes, tripetala. Yet another mag I've got that can't seem to make it past go. Must be patient...must be patient...

Ron, now you've got me really excited about M. obovata. I've got a love-hate relationship with magnolias. I love them, but they hate to grow here.

bboy, ginkgonut, and, others:

Thanks for all the helpful information, and especially, your opinions regarding this Magnolia variety.

bboy: What exactly about my climate will cause the flowers to wash-out of color? Is it the cold springtime temp's? Can you explain a little more about how temp's. may affect color?

The tree that I have my eye on looks to be at least 10 years old, and, has a nicely tapered trunk, measuring about 1-1/2" diameter above the wide, root base, continuing up the first 4 feet of the trunk, then from there, it gradually tapers down to about 3/4" diameter, over the next 3-4 feet. The tree is very well branched, with a nice shape too. I would guess that the tree is probably either at, or, very near, blooming-size. How old do you think these trees must be to produce a good display of flowers? Can I prune back some of the elongated branches, - after flowering - to induce dormant buds to break along bare wood so that more flowering twigs/branchlets are produced from the older, leaf nodes?

Thanks, to all, for sharing your experiences, photos, opinions. I was a great help.

Frank

I didn't say cold climates caused the flowers to be poorly colored, I said you might get more of the blooming ahead of the leaves (than in a milder one where the leaves might quickly overtake the flowers).

bboy:

Thanks for the clarification. I guess I misunderstood the first two sentences of your posting, and thought that flower color was linked in some way to temperatures. However, I glad to read that I'll more likely get flowers first, whatever be their color, before leaves unfurl.

Thanks, Frank DV

If anything cold weather before bloom tends to make precocious-flowering deciduous magnolias have darker flowers.