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Magnolia stellata |
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| | Buds tinged in pink |
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| Common name |
star magnolia |
| Family |
magnoliaceae |
| Life cycle |
tree |
| Flowers |
white (April) |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
First of our garden's trees to bloom - and one of the nicest, too. There's always the fear of a hard freeze nipping the opening flowers in the bud, but most years it comes through just fine. The buds are rosy-tinged, but the blossoms open pure white.
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| | The center of the flower is a wonder to behold close-up |
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| | Right after the flower display, the new leaves are quite the sight, too |
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| | Late-november bud, just waiting for April to arrive |
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| | Developing fruit in mid-August - a cluster of pinkish, swollen scales (not a botanical description by any means!) |
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| | Orange fruits in mid-September |
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Magnolia stellata
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Lisa | Aug 30, 2009 | Hi just wondering if you know what will happen to my magnolia after i just cut off every fruit sack (as in your picture- mid-august- a cluter of pinkish, swollen scales). Was told as nursury that it was gall and needed to be taken off. after research- it was fruit! Is my tree doomed or will it repair itsself? Thanks- Lisa
Your magnolia will be just fine. It's no different from picking all the apples off an apple tree - it doesn't hurt the mother tree. |
| Roger | Sep 04, 2010 | What is the possibility of propagating from the seeds in the UK? Any advice? Can they be planted immediately or do their need special trteatment? Roger
I have no experience propagating star magnolias from seed. |
| janice | May 10, 2011 | mine did not have one flower on it this year i put it down to the bad winter here in the UK. What do you think.
They are very hardy - even a bad winter in the UK is unlikely to provide such a low temperature as to kill the dormant buds. But if the buds got hit with a late freeze after they started to think about opening up for spring, that may have done them in. |
| Christine | Sep 12, 2011 | I have a 30+ year old magnolia in my yard. We have only lived in the house for 3 years and it has never produced fruit until this year. Is this typical? |
| janice | May 01, 2013 | update from my 2011 comment Rob, this year full of flowers looks lovely, and its not been the best of winters here in the UK. |
| Marty | Sep 30, 2013 | Is the fruit edible?
I've never heard of anybody eating the fruit - so even if it's non-toxic, I doubt it's tasty. |
| Kathy | Sep 09, 2015 | I also have just recently noticed the fruit of my Star Magnolia. It always had the long things which fell to the ground. They weren't that interesting. But now after having my Magnolia for about 20 years!, I just started to notice the fruit. Very interesting visually!
1) If I do not pick up any of e these fruits will any of them sprout?
2) Were the long things that I have always seen the immature fruit?
Thanks Rob
I doubt you'll have any magnolias spontaneously sprouting, unless your conditions are just right for them. It certainly hasn't happened for me. The structures you saw in previous years were probably just spent flower parts that dropped after a while when no real fruit developed. Now I just hope that my own star magnolia survives - after weeks of drought, it dropped all its leaves, but we finally got some rain today. |
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