Plant Library

Group/Class:  Little Girl Series

Description:

A hybrid magnolia selected for its spectacular reddish-purple cup-shaped flowers in spring before the leaves and improved hardiness; a large, mounded shrub, incredibly effective as a specimen tree in smaller home landscapes

Ornamental Features

Susan Magnolia is clothed in stunning fragrant purple cup-shaped flowers with shell pink overtones held atop the branches in early spring before the leaves. It has dark green deciduous foliage. The large pointy leaves turn coppery-bronze in fall.

Landscape Attributes

Susan Magnolia is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Susan Magnolia is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Susan Magnolia will grow to be about 18 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 20 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for acidic soils. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.