American Snowdrop Tree, Two-wing Silverbell 'Magniflora'

A graceful small rounded tree, naturally low-branched and often multistemmed.

As the pictures indicate, its show of precoc...Read Moreious bloom is the equal of any other hardy flowering tree. It is more floriferous than Halesia tetraptera, whose attractions are a little too subtle for many people but is much more widely planted. Unlike that tree, H. diptera var. magniflora has bloom extending to the tips of the branches. It blooms in late May/early June here in Boston Z6a, before it starts to leaf out----a week or two after H. tetraptera, and coinciding with Cornus kousa.

Its late leafing out in spring makes it a good tree for underplanting with spring bulbs and ephemerals.

An understory tree native to the southeastern US, it's found on moist streambanks in the wild, but does well in cultivation with average but consistent moisture---it will suffer during drought without supplemental water. Dirr gives its hardiness range as Z(4)5 to 8b.

This is a botanical variety that comes true from seed. It is not a cultivar. Michael Dirr was unable to root this from cuttings, and I suspect that it's the need for growing this tree from seed that's kept it out of mass production. He also reports that it does not transplant well balled-and-burlapped, and that for commercial production it is much better container grown.

At least this tree has the virtue of growing moderately quickly and flowering in three to five years from seed.

In 1995, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society gave this tree its Gold Medal Plant Award.

This extraordinary tree deserves to be much more widely planted.

I've had this tree for about 12 years and it has developed into quite a show-stopper when it blooms - it's now nearly 20 feet high. One t...Read Morehing to keep in mind - it casts a pretty dense shade. The Bletilla orchids I had planted underneath it no longer bloom due to the lack of light. Need to move them...

Large-flowered silverbell is one of the unsung heroes of the spring landscape. It is little known and grown simply because it flowers at...Read More the same time as flowering dogwood and many other commonly planted spring bloomers. Be different, and give this small tree a try!

A vigorous grower, easily stretching 18-24" of new growth in ordinary soils and normal rainfall, this plant drenches itself in bloom annually. The flattened two-winged seeds form later in the summer and are a positive ID feature. Yellows are the common fall color.