I planted Magnolia 'Butterflies' today. Yeah!

Hi all,
I am so excited because I planted a tree-form Magnolia acuminata 'Butterflies' today. I have wanted a 'Butterflies' magnolia for a long time and a local nursery had free delivery on all pot-grown trees and shrubs, so I said, what the hey. There are numerous buds on the tree so I hope the buds open this spring.

The nursery (Bachman's) said this tree was hardy to zone 4, but the tag had the tree listed as zone 6. I believe that there are other M. 'Butterflies' growing in the Twin Cities (and western Wisconsin. Hi Bob!) I planted this tree in my front yard (yard faces West) so it will be in a very exposed spot. My Metasequoia is also in the front yard and it has done just fine, so I am not too worried.

The only bummer is that this tree is supposed to have no fall foliage color. I hope "they" are wrong. I love the bark on this tree; the bark looks very much like beech bark - very smooth and grey.

Thanks for listening. I am just so excited that I had to tell someone (none of my friends could give a poop about anything like this.)
Mike

tl³:

Hi VV,
Sorry, I guess I should have said that none of my local friends could give a poop about anything like this. (:o)

Thanks for posting the great photo; I can hardly wait.

I think the flowers on 'Butterflies' are fragrant, also. Correct?
Thanks,
Mike

A midwest Magnolia update--I love it. Congrats on your Butterflies buy. I bought mine from Bachman's last September, and it looks like I might even get some flowers from it. I put it on a north-facing woodland edge and there's no indication of winter damage. My minuscule magnolia collection is now up to three (Merrill and Tripetala), and they're all doing great. Merrill is just starting to flower, but its going to be very sparse compared to the past couple of years. I'm actually surprised any of the flower buds survived the weather from hell we had earlier this month.

BTW, on another post you mentioned you were not aware of any A. griseum surviving in the Twin Cities. I'm aware of exactly one! Its down in Afton at Gray's (Grey's?). If you sneak around to the back where they have their nursery stock you'll find it growing near the garage. Not a great looking specimen, but around 10' and they think its about 10-15 years old. Mine is going on year three and has grown maybe 1"-2". My goal is to see it get taller than myself, and this is one case (maybe the only one) where its good to be short. ;)

Hey, always glad to throw cyber-props from down Ohio River valley way. Good luck with the magnolia efforts. There are plenty of fine ones that both of you should be able to grow (based on Beaver Creek Nursery field production schooled by Roy Klehm trials, AND the work of the magnolia hybridizer guy in Green Bay).

Someone's got to be the prairie pioneer.

I think those are blurred PJM rhodies/azaleas in the background -- nice combo effect for around here. 'Butterflies' does carry a fragrance. I think the only thing about exposure is some wind protection (beats up the flowers, and as general dessicant) but otherwise have at it.

Here at the Valley, mine is on the leading windward edge of the property with a northwesterly exposure. Cold isn't an issue (yet), but none of these like to dry out in the summer and the crusty clay loam sometimes needs an infusion in the July/Aug/Sept droughty doldrums. Up till this spring's (?) bizarre cold twist first week of April, the flowers have come through swimmingly. Now, it is going to have to recover from that insult and grow some new leaves.

Your local friends will change their tune when they see your magnolia bustin' with blooms, and wonder where your wisdom has been all their lives. Tell 'em to go sniff a silver maple.

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the update.

One of the buds has broken out of the sheath (don't know if this is the correct term for the thing covering the bud or not) so I have been going out to look at the bud just about hourly to see if it's any closer to blooming. It will be good for me to go to work tomorrow so I can stop obsessing about that flower.

I was worried about placing the tree in too protected of a spot and having the tree break dormancy too early in the year and then getting hit by frost and damaging the flowers. I guess I'll need to wait and see what happens next spring.

VV,
Yes, I like the yellow and purple flower combo in your photo, too. I have a 'Helmond Pillar' barberry surrounded by Artemisia 'Golden Phoenix' and these two plants give the yellow/purple color combo all season. Randy Dykstra was here in 2005, for the Central Region Conifer society meeting, and he said he was going to "steal" the combo for use in one of his gardens. I took that as a compliment.

It will be a few years before my plantings have much of an impact, but sooner or later my friends will leave the dark-side of common, everyday trees and shrubs and see the wisdom of planting something out-of-the-ordinary. Look at the decimation to the mono culture of Elms, and soon-to-be-decimated ash trees - it's a shame.

I'd tell 'em to go sniff a silver maple, but they wouldn't know which tree to sniff without me pointing directly at the tree. (:o)
Oh well...
Thanks,
Mike

Mike, there is a nice M. Butterflies we saw at a member's garden on a Rock Garden Society tour about 10 years ago in Anoka, MN. It was about 9ft then, and I talked to the owner last year and asked about it. "It's doing well" he replied.

Did you visit any of the gardens that were open for touring during the Conifer Society conference here in 2005? At Glenn Ray's garden in Minnetonka, he has three Acer griseum's, all over 8ft and in the ground at least 5 years (in 2005). Don't know if anything has changed since then. He also has three Chamaecyparis pisifera (straight species) over 30 years old.

My Magnolia Butterflies, fall planted last year, as I got it for a great deal at a local nursery, has done wonderfully over the winter. I checked it over and I don't see any damage. It is on the northside in a very exposed area. 'White Rose' is her next door neighbor and looks great too, thanks to Plantskyyd. What a difference it makes when the deer don't eat it.
I'm still pondering a "Butterflies" by the deck too. Can I possibly talk DH into yet another magnolia??
Congrats on the Butterflies acquisition. It is a beauty.

Hi Rick,
Thanks for the encouraging info.

I did go on the tour in 2005 and I went to Glen's garden; I don't know how I could have missed an A. griseum on his property, much less three A griseums? I have an A. griseum about 2' tall, in a pot, (of course!) that I probably need to put in the yard somewhere, just to give it a try. I have wintered the "tree" on the east side of my house for the last few years. I purchased the tree from Forest Farm, as a tube-sized plant.

Due to the rain today, I have not been out to check out the bud on my magnolia. I am going to resist temptation and wait until tomorrow.

My Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium' has broken dormancy and the shoots are a good 2" to 3" long. Friday the buds were just swollen. It's amazing what a little warm weather and rain will do to plants.
Mike

Thanks, ML, that's what I am hoping. My 'Butterflies' is about 7' tall, so it's a pretty good-sized tree. I was worried that the tree would be terribly root bound, but it wasn't. The roots looked perfect - no circling at all.
Mike

TL, that does sound like great tree habit to me. It would drive me crazy not to check on that bud, but that's just me. The one who opened all of her presents as a kid before Christmas morning, and had no surprises as she re-opened her re-wrapped gifts.

As long as tl³ doesn't prune all intervening vegetation so that he can sit in his easy chair or at the dining table with binoculars to watch his bud...then he's not obsessing.

Setting a motion sensor directly on it to notify of emergence is simply prudent.

I actually have this tree and mine seems to be struggling. This is it's third year. I am thinking of giving it a dose of Messenger to help it along. It isn't dead yet but it isn't thriving. I have it planted on the northwest side of my house out in the open. It did bloom last year but only a couple. I just don't think it likes it here. :(

I'd use Messenger on it and not give up. But I could be giving you a bit of a biased opinion. Treasure those blossoms!

I purchased some Messenger from the Co-op earlier this year. Should I use the Messenger on my tree? I guess I have not read up on the Messenger enough to know what it even does. I had just heard so many people singing its praises that I had to have some.
Thanks,
Mike

I've used Messenger on my trees and shrubs. It sounds like any growing plant, while being properly cared for can benefit from this plant protein. If you struggling with this tree, it couldn't hurt, could it?

I just reread my Messenger packet insert, it is labeled for use on trees and shrubs.