Plant of the Month - Magnolia stellata
In common, I suspect, with most gardeners, spring is definitely my favourite time of year. Everything is bursting into life and I’ve yet to become demoralised over the state of the garden. To me nothing shouts ‘spring’ quite like magnolias.
My lucky neighbours have a huge magnolia with masses of large pink flowers; it looks absolutely magnificent in March and April and, when it came to planning my new garden, I really wanted one just like it. However, when I started researching suitable cultivars, I discovered that some magnolias can take 15 years to flower! I am certainly not that patient so, being sensible for once, I opted for a Magnolia stellata or star magnolia instead – and certainly do not regret it.
Magnolia stellata is a small tree or shrub that will only reach about 3m high (as opposed to the 30m that some species of magnolia reach) and can, apparently, be grown in a container. Despite its relatively small stature it is a showy and, in my opinion, lovely plant. There are pink forms but I chose a bog-standard white one as I thought it would look better next to the forsythia which flowers at the same time.
It flowers on bare stems and has beautiful buds which open into star shaped blooms. It is a very easy plant, requiring no pruning, and seems to be tough as old boots. It is native to Japan and is naturally a woodland plant so is more tolerant of shade than other magnolias. The books tell you that it doesn’t like waterlogged soil or strong winds but it seems to be thriving in my exposed garden with its heavy clay. It went in the ground about 7 years ago as a spindly specimen about 80cm high. It has at least doubled in size in that time and is a nicely shaped small tree with abundant flowers (it flowered the year after it was planted). The flowers also seem to be less prone to showing signs of frost damage than other larger-flowered species.
I’ve read that they look good with clematis growing through them for flowers later in the year but I’ve not tried that one yet!