Evergreen Magnolias (Part 2)
In the Garden with Andrew
Magnolia virginiana var. australis ‘Henry Hicks’ at the Scott Arboretum. Photo: Andrew Bunting
Andrew Bunting. Photo courtesy of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
In May 1986, I arrived at the Scott Arboretum for a one-year curatorial internship. I had driven east from Illinois in my 1982 VW Rabbit to explore East Coast horticulture and its botanical bounty. One of my first memories of the arboretum is seeing a medium-sized tree in the Entrance Garden that was unlike anything I had ever seen in gardens and arboreta in Illinois. It was my first glimpse of the sweetbay magnolia, Magnolia virginiana var. australis ‘Henry Hicks’.
In Illinois, this species barely survives the climate. But in the greater Philadelphia area, it can be a stunning tree reaching up to 40 feet in height. Unlike most other magnolias, the sweetbay can grow in standing water. Native to the coastal plain from Massachusetts south to Florida and as far Cuba, it often grows close to streams, ponds, and lakes. Locally, it is ubiquitous throughout the low-lying and swampy areas of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. An upright tree, it can be deciduous, semi-evergreen, or fully evergreen, depending on the selection and where in the country it grows. Visiting my mother, I often drive by an upright evergreen specimen in Haddon Heights, New Jersey.
From Massachusetts to mid-North Carolina, you’ll find many specimens of Magnolia virginiana var. virginiana. Typically, these trees are fully deciduous and grow as a multi-stemmed clump. They flower sporadically from mid-May to September, producing 2-3” blossoms with a sweet lemony fragrance. Magnolia virginiana var. australis is a typically Southern variety and can be either evergreen or semi-evergreen, depending on the cultivar. ‘Henry Hicks’, which I first encountered at the Scott Arboretum, is what I would call sporadically evergreen. In warmer winters, it tends to be more evergreen; in cold hostile winters, it tends to be more deciduous. With global climate change and increasingly warm winters, all these selections will become more and more evergreen.
A Magnolia virginiana var. australis ‘Henry Hicks’ flower. Photo: Andrew Bunting
The Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College has an exceptional collection of sweetbay magnolia. In the Fragrance Garden, Magnolia virginiana var. australis ‘Santa Rosa’ was selected for its large broad leaves with shiny surfaces. ‘Satellite’ reaches 20 feet in height and is reliably evergreen. ‘Ned’s Northern Belle’ is touted as the hardiest of all evergreen sweetbays for the north. ‘Green Shadow’ was promoted by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture for hedging. ‘Henry Hicks’, mentioned above, was named by Dr. John Wister, first director of the Scott Arboretum, in honor of a colleague who ran a famed plant nursery on Long Island. ‘Mattie Mae Smith’ has butter-yellow and green variegated foliage. Sweet Thing is a relatively new introduction from Sleepy Hollow Nursery that can grow to 8 feet tall and has an equally wide spread. Its rounded, shrub-like habit leads some to consider it a potential replacement for broadleaved evergreen shrubs like rhododendron, aucuba, and cherry laurels (Prunus laurocerasus).
When I try to envision a small or mid-sized flowering tree, the sweetbay magnolia comes immediately to mind. Its evergreen habit and sweetly scented flowers are wonderful. It is one of the few magnolias that can grow in damp and poorly drained conditions. And, as late summer advances into fall, its follicles (fruit clusters) produce shiny red fruits that feed native birds.
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Andrew Bunting is vice president of public horticulture at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and vice president of the Swarthmore Horticultural Society.
