Sweetbay Magnolia, Silver Bay, Swamp Bay 'Moonglow'

I have had this tree in my year for about 2 years (elevation: about 750 ft) and the about 25% of the leaves actually remained on the tree...Read More through the winter, which drop by May to make way for new leaves. The bottom half of the leave is a silvery-grey, while the upper half is a shiny green. The leaves turn yellow before dropping. While I have gotten a lot of flowers yet, they are about 2" in diameter and are a creamy white. That said, there are leaves in place when the tree does flower, so the tree is not nearly as showy as the other flowering magnolias.

Grows fine for me in southern MI (zone 5b) and has survived very harsh winters without damage. Needs acidic soil to grow well and won't t...Read Moreolerate a hot, dry area for long. Sweetbay Magnolia grows in southern swamps so it will tolerate wet areas. Grows upright, not shrubby like the species. I've not had a problem with cold hardiness with sweetbay magnolia but got this one to be one the safe side, both survive growing in the open for me.

while in the process of building our new house two years ago, a tornado hit our new home (in mid august), and took about thirty of...Read More our trees. we walked around our four akers of land . thats when i came upon this wonderful find-sweet magnolia tree. we have a creek and about three springs ,and it stays swampy in some spots. we have about twenty sweet magnolias and fourof the trees are very large ones. we are wanting to find small ones and re plant them in our front yard and different places around the yard. they stay green about all year . we have great photos of the creek and the trees where they hang over the creek . in what month would you recomend we transplant them.

laura carter
carrollton, ga.

I was blown away by this trees performance. It is very hardy. It has been reported to withstand -33F in northern Illinois. As for my y...Read Moreard it does very well. I have been able to get an incredible three feet of growth a year. It starts blooming in early to mid May here and it smells terrific. Past its big and long initial bloom of the season there are always a flower or two to provide some fragrance in the yard. The foliage is lustrous and looks almost tropical. This tree is semievergreen here and holds most of its leaves into january when you seem to need it the most then they begin to shed as you cross from mid winter to late winter. A few leaves on the end of branches always remain luckily to last until spring. The fruit cones can be ornamental can as well. After many weeks of sub-zero temps (to -8) here during the winter of 06-07 the tree did lose its leaves but the wood and buds remain unharmed. It showed slight suseptibility to verticilium wilt last summer with several years of very dry conditions and built up nitrogen from fertilizer. Supplemental watering (1-2X month) during the summer of 06 prevented the disease's spread during times of extreme drought. It recovered from the disease very quickly and has been very little work or trouble. If you decide to fertilize, fertilize lightly once in early spring. My soils are very prone to causing verticilium wilt to my surprise. I have tried "Neds Northern Belle" as well, with loss of both of the two "Belle" I planted to the disease. Sweetbays like mulch and little root competition from grass. Perennials and shrubs seem to cohabitate well underneath them. Disease should not be a problem under our normal climate patterns here in central Illinois and is rare that verticillium wilt should harm them. Most Sweetbays do very well here in all kinds of soil. I still recommend this tree very highly, even to the unexperienced gardner. This is easily the best tree-form sweetbay magnolia for use in zone 5.