Sweetbay Magnolia

Magnolia virginiana

Sweetbay magnolia blooms over a long season. creamy white flowers the size of a coffee cup opening from late May through September, each one carrying a lemon-vanilla scent strong enough to stop you across the yard. The silver-backed leaves catch wind and flash their pale undersides in summer breezes, a visual effect that's quietly mesmerizing. Stand downwind on a warm June evening and the fragrance is extraordinary. Semi-evergreen in the South, deciduous further north. Adaptable to wet, boggy sites where most flowering trees fail. a significant advantage in landscapes with drainage problems. Red seeds in fall are taken by birds. The tree works in wet woodland edges, rain garden margins, and as a specimen near water features. Nothing gives you this combination of fragrance, wet-site tolerance, and summer bloom duration.