Magnolia viginiana 'Tensaw'

Does anyone have/grow this? I just got one and am wondering if it needs the same conditions. Does it flower as well? Does it need more sun to flower? Does it flower at all??? LOL (I am speaking comparison to the "regular" virginiana)

I have planted this at Metro Parks, but it is still a young plant. Everything I've read/heard just claims dwarfer characteristics, especially the smaller leaves.

I wouldn't expect it to require any different soil/moisture/light conditions. Most sweetbay flower best in full sun; tolerated many soil types but like slightly acid and sandy loam; and prefer more moisture but don't require it.

I've seen it listed to reach 15-20', so not exactly a dwarf (just smaller than the standard).

thanks smarty pants....I also saw this one (which I have never seen before) Magnolia sieboldii (with DOUBLE blooms). they look like huge white firm balls hanging down. You feel like you have to feel them! I want one and think it would be great to look up at the blossoms. But I have no where to put it.

updating this thread to ask....how come THIS magnolia does not lose its leaves and the regular virginiana does. ? We have had a terrible freeze and this one has not lost one leaf...the other is bare.

Where is it planted? If it's in a little pocket of the yard, the microclimate might've convinced it it was somewhere else. LOL. My saucer magnolias are very susceptible to suggestion. Ha ha ha.

Not to mention, it's evergreen! =0)

There are two strains of sweetbay out there in circulation (or in nature); one is more "evergreen" than the other, and it probably varies north to south with the climate that the plants are grown in.

•Magnolia virginiana is commonly known and grown as sweetbay. Plants purchased with this name/label should be reliably deciduous.

•Magnolia virginiana var. australis is more often known as the evergreen sweetbay. It will hold at least some of its leaves up into zone 6 for sure, and often zone 5 (depending on winter severity). No guarantee on how good/bad/indifferent those remaining leaves will be.

Some authors see no difference between the two (based on provenance, pubescence, leaf retentiveness) whereas others like to be splitters. So there you go.

The little leaf forms like 'Tensaw' originate with Tom Dodd Nurseries (they've also named 'Appalachi', 'Cahaba', 'Coosa', and 'Perdido', none of which I've seen yet) so they are likely of coastal or near coastal origin along the Gulf. I think their nursery is in Semmes, AL near Mobile.

It is actually in a more open place than the other/regular one.

think I over posted with you SP...so this is most likely australis?

Does it have such hard wood that you need ten saws to cut it down?

:o)

Yes...that is why it is named as such. LOL

All of my Sweetbay magnolias are evergreen. I dont think I have ever seen one that is deciduous.

Well in your area they would be...but not here.

VV covered most of it, but there is also another notable characteristic associated with M. virginiana var. australis. It tends to be a single trunked larger growing tree form, than the more shrubby multi-trunked smaller growing M. virginiana var. virginiana. Also, the degree to which it holds onto it's leaves through the winter is genetic rather than climate induced. M. virginiana var. australis will try to hold onto it's leaves throughout the winter, even in more Northern climates, but they will be beat up and torn off from severe winter weather, thus making many look kind of ratty to some people. While I don't seem to have this problem here in zone 6 Kansas, some other people in other zone 6 and zone 5 areas have had this problem. There has been some demand for an evergreen var. australis cultivar which doesn't get it's leaves beat up and torn off as much.

The main reason why some people lump both varieties together is because in many places in the upper South, like Tennessee, you can find both forms and intermediate forms growing together in the wild. Although farther South you only find evergreen and mostly tree like ones, and farther North of there you only find deciduous and mostly shrubbier growing ones. So, while they may or may not be taxonomically different enough to maintain, they are quite different in cultivation and I think the difference should be maintained in the nursery trade. They sell lots of the Northern M. virginiana var. virginiana here in Eastern KS and they all turn out to be mostly deciduous small shrubby trees to about 15' tall and wide, but I grow several M. virginiana var. australis which are all single trunked, evergreen, and they do seem to be growing much larger(tallest one of mine is about 28' tall now).

VV is correct 'Tensaw' was named by Tom Dodd Nurseries in Semmes, AL and it was probably named after the Tensaw River, which splits from the Mobile River about 15 miles North of Mobile and flows into the Gulf of Mexico just East of Mobile, AL. I think this is probably where they found the original wild plant.

Thank you for the information...interesting.

I have been going to Hubbard's Landing (Tensaw River) all my life and have never paid any attention to the sweetbay magnolias. I will have to keep an eye out for any small leaved forms. There are so many other evergreen shrubs along that river that they all blend in together.

this is the most adorable magnolia!
i have to have one