Beloved for its dinner-plate size blossoms with the fragrance of lemons, the Southern Magnolia is considered to be the “Grand Dame” of Southern landscaping. This Southern native does well from Zones 6B to 9 with cultivars like Edith Bogue and Bracken’s Brown Beauty reportedly doing well into 5B thus pushing this perennial favorite into the Northeast and extreme Southern New England.
Home and Garden Landscapes recommends using this tree in your landscape if you have the room. Luckily, newer cultivars like Brackens Brown Beauty and Claudia Wannamaker do not have the wide spread of the original trees you see taking up massive amounts of space in the Deep South. Some cultivars like Lil Gem bloom from May till November and some cultivars like D.B. Blanchard have a beautiful coloration and texture to the underside of the leaves that some people liken to suede.
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Thundercloud Plum
Thunderbird Plum is used extensively in North American Landscapes. With it’s early Spring profusion of pink blossoms followed by dark burgundy leaves, Thundercloud Plum is a great choice for the landscape needing an instant “pop” with smaller trees.
It is a shorter-lived tree and in general a gardener can get 20 t0 25 years out of it. However, it is a great choice in spite of it’s relative short life-span.
