Starting in early spring and lasting about two months, magnolia lovers can look forward to a non-stop parade of blossoms on several hardy members of this beautiful genus.

Magnolias and their ancestors are considered to be among the most primitive plants, with fossils of magnolia-like flowers having been discovered that date them to the time of the dinosaurs. The flowers are very simple, in contrast to the more intricate floral structures of relatively modern orchids and composites. They appear to have evolved just enough to be pollinated by equally ancient beetles, which crawl into the open or cup-shaped flowers to eat pollen and sip nectar.

The genus was named in 1703 for Pierre Magnol (1638-1715), director of the Montpellier botanical garden. Although Magnol lived – and his eponymous genus was named -- long before Carl Linnaeus initiated his system of binomial nomenclature, it is noted that as a young man, Linnaeus owned a Flora authored by Magnol and respected his work.

Most gardeners are familiar with the big mauve flowers of the tulip or saucer magnolia, Magnolia x soulangeana, which is usually in bloom by the last week in April or the first week in May, in Toronto. It is an interspecific hybrid, the 1826 offspring in the French garden of Etienne Soulange-Boudin of an accidental cross between the large, white-flowered Yulan from China, Magnolia denudata, and the smaller, wine-pink M. liliiflora. There are many named forms of saucer magnolia and it’s worth looking for a choice one like early-blooming ‘Alexandrina’ or reddish-purple ‘Rustica Rubra’. This plant has an interesting history as well.

A favorite of mine is star magnolia, Magnolia stellata. Unlike the tulip magnolia which can grow to 25 feet or more, star magnolia stops at about 10 feet (3 m), making it a good choice for a smaller garden. It has a dense, twiggy growth habit and is one of the first to bloom, usually in mid-late April. Look for white ‘Royal Star’ which is fast-growing and extremely free-flowering and ‘Pink Star’ which looks like it’s covered with light pink ribbons.

Two other highly-recommended early bloomers are Magnolia x loebneri ‘Merrill’ and ‘Leonard Messel’. Selections of an interspecific cross between M kobus and M. stellata, the first is fast-growing and bears its large, waxy, white, fragrant flowers at a younger age than most magnolias; the second has starry, rose-pink blossoms but is somewhat slower growing.

The anise magnolia (M. salicifolia) is pyramidal in form with lemon-scented white flowers in eary May. It has willow-like foliage and grows to at least 20 feet (6 m).

The spectacular Southern magnolia (M. grandiflora) is a large tree (65-100 feet or 20-30 m) with glossy, evergreen leaves and large fragrant, waxy-white flower. It is native to swampy areas in the southeastern United States, west to Texas and south to Mexico. It goes by other names too: loblolly magnolia, sweet bay, swamp bay and bull bay, from the place in South Carolina where American plant explorer John Bartram collected his specimens around 1734 (though it had been first discovered in Virginia and sent to England as the “laurel-leaved tulip tree” in 1688 by British missionary John Banister).

The big cucumber tree or cucumbertree magnolia (M. acuminata) is a North American native found as far north as Ontario. Very fast-growing to about 75 feet (23 m), it has long leaves and small, odd, greenish-yellow flowers, followed by showy, red, cone-like fruits. Where it’s hardy, it makes a good specimen tree. Some of the more interesting hybrids have used this tree as a parent. ‘Elizabeth’ with its pale-yellow flowers was the first commercially-successful “yellow” shrub magnolia, a 1977 Brooklyn Botanic Garden introduction resulting from a cross between M. acuminata and M. denudata. Later BBG introductions have given us plants with more intense yellow flowers, including ‘Yellow Bird’ and vibrant new ‘Lois’, a cross between a seedling of ‘Elizabeth’ back to M. acuminata.

Another unusual one is the Oyama magnolia (M. sieboldii) from Japan and hardy to Can. Zone 6b (U.S. Zone 5b). It grows about 12 feet (3.7 m) tall and sprawls sideways. Its large, fragrant, cup-shaped white flowers have deep red stamens and are produced over a very long period late in June.

Apart from the hybrids mentioned above, there have been many other cross-breeding efforts that have resulted in beautiful, garden-worthy magnolias. One group developed in the 1960s by the United States National Arboretum is the Little Girl Hybrids, with names like ‘Ann’, ‘Betty’, ‘Susan’, ‘Rickie’ and representing crosses between selections of M.liliiflora and M. stellata. Floriferous and hardy, many are also modestly-sized at 8-15 feet (2.5 – 4.6 m), making them good choices for smaller gardens.

Adapted from a column published originally in the Toronto Sun

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