{"id":10568,"date":"2018-05-09T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=10568"},"modified":"2018-03-24T17:18:43","modified_gmt":"2018-03-24T21:18:43","slug":"our-native-bigleaf-magnolias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2018\/05\/09\/our-native-bigleaf-magnolias\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Native Bigleaf Magnolias"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Magnolia macrophylla in flower<\/p><\/div>\n

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M. ashei on East TN State Univ. campus in Johnson City, TN<\/p><\/div>\n

Bigleaf magnolias are represented by four species: (M. macrophylla<\/em>), umbrella magnolia (M. tripetala)<\/em>, Fraser magnolia (M. fraseri)<\/em>, and Ashe magnolia (M. ashei<\/em>). All are medium-size trees with huge leaves and large flowers that appear after the leaves unfurl.\u00a0All are\u00a0native to the southeastern United States as far north to West Virginia and Ohio (USDA hardiness zones 5-8). A mature tree attains heights of 30 to 40 feet and matures into an irregular pyramidal tree habit. In the northern areas\u00a0the tree is deciduous and semi-evergreen in the southeastern U.S.<\/p>\n

Its enormous size foliage makes it a true horticultural oddity. Leaves are alternate, simple, 12 to 36 inches long and 7 to 12 inches wide. They\u2019re bright green above and silvery gray below. Petioles are 2 to 4 inches long. Its yellow fall color rarely stands out.<\/p>\n

Their large leaves decompose slowly and do create a litter headache. Their enormous leaf\u00a0size relegates their plantings primarily to\u00a0large properties and private woodlands where weak branches and\u00a0unusual leaves are sheltered from ice and wind storms.\u00a0Leaves are intolerant of most urban pollutants.<\/p>\n

Here in Tennessee and North Carolina, all species grow in moist,\u00a0humus-rich, well-drained\u00a0mountain soils, and in full sun to partial shade. Established plants are only marginally drought tolerant. In the mountains, trees \u00a0closely associate their roots nearby a small creek or stream. Foliage is not tolerant of most urban pollutants. A tree may take 10 or more years before first blooms form. Goblet-shaped flowers are creamy white, rose-purple at the petal base, and\u00a0measure a foot or more across.\u00a0Flowers appear\u00a0in late spring, high in the tree, and mostly hidden within the dense foliage. Up close, flowers are pleasantly fragrant.<\/p>\n

Fruits (called “cones”)\u00a0are round (cone-like), rose-colored, and nearly 3-inches long. Cones are unique,\u00a0persistent, and attract\u00a0numerous bird\u00a0species. Cones open to reveal the red coated seeds, each one attached by a\u00a0thin silk-like thread.<\/p>\n

Large-leaved\u00a0magnolias are primarily\u00a0sold by a small number of native plant nurseries.<\/p>\n

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Fall color of M. macrophylla at Biltmore Estates in Asheville, NC.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bigleaf magnolias are represented by four species: (M. macrophylla), umbrella magnolia (M. tripetala), Fraser magnolia (M. fraseri), and Ashe magnolia (M. ashei). All are medium-size trees with huge leaves and large flowers that appear after the leaves unfurl.\u00a0All are\u00a0native to the southeastern United States as far north to West Virginia and Ohio (USDA hardiness zones […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1474,645,674,665,1012,853,1460,1170,866,551,791,843,1059,601,729,777,705,646,1473,113,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10568"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10610,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10568\/revisions\/10610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}