Plant Encyclopedia

Group/Class:  Little Girl Series

Description:

A hybrid magnolia selected for its spectacular purple cup-shaped flowers with white insides in spring before the leaves and improved hardiness; a medium sized shrub, good as a specimen or accent for spring bloom

Ornamental Features

Betty Magnolia is bathed in stunning fragrant fuchsia cup-shaped flowers with pink overtones held atop the branches in early spring before the leaves. It has dark green deciduous foliage which emerges coppery-bronze in spring. The large pointy leaves turn coppery-bronze in fall.

Landscape Attributes

Betty Magnolia is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Betty Magnolia is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Betty Magnolia will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for acidic soils. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.