Plant magnolias now. Reap the rewards in spring

These spectacular flowering trees need to be planted by November so that the warm autumn soils can ensure their roots bed down before winter

 Magnolia lilliflora ‘Nigra’ wafts delicate scents. Photograph: Alamy

Magnolias are ancient trees. They appeared before bees had evolved and thus had to rely on beetles to do the pollinating work. Beetles are a clumsy lot compared with dancing bees, and so the flowers need to be robust, with thick, waxy petals that reflect in moonlight, when the beetles are up, and tough inner carpels, heady with fruit scent so pleasing to a beetle’s nose.

Spectacular in flower, magnolias need to be planted now. Warm autumn soils should ensure that the roots bed down a little before winter.

The most common magnolia is the saucer magnolia, M. x soulangeana, with its large, tulip‑shaped flowers – white, stained rose-purple at the base – that appear from late April until May. It is one of the best for tolerating indifferent clay soils and atmospheric pollution, although it is no good on shallow chalk soils.

The best lime-tolerant species is the delicate star magnolia, M. stellata. A distinct, charming, slow-growing shrub that forms a low-growing, rounded form often no taller than 3m high, it will be covered in flowers in March and April. Smaller forms mean you can get close to the flowers, which is great when they are as heavenly scented as the profusely flowering M. x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’. Its flowers are lilac-pink, deep in bud and open well before the leaves.

M. lilliflora ‘Nigra’ has almost-maroon flowers that are creamy white inside and delicately stained with pink veins; they flower periodically from June, often for the rest of summer, wafting delicate scents. It grows to 3m by 1.5m. ‘Caerhays Surprise’ has similar tulip-shaped flowers, which open a darkish purple-red and fade to mauvish purple. It flowers from a young age and will grow to 5m.

I’m obsessed with yellow-flowering magnolias. The recently introduced ‘Daphne’, from Belgium, is a beauty. It has wonderful dark-yellow tulip-shaped flowers that appear with the leaves and are long-lasting, flowering well after the worst of the spring frosts. It is perfect for smaller gardens.

No magnolia likes to grow in a windy, exposed spot and the earlier-flowering forms need to be grown in a spot protected from frost pockets. They need a reasonable depth of good soil. Rich, organic soil with good drainage is a must, but they need moisture; mulching in autumn and spring will help with this if soils are thin. They prefer acidic conditions, but enough leaf mould and garden compost can rectify more limey soils.

You can grow the smaller types in large pots. They will need regular feeding in spring and summer – seaweed feed and rainwater are ideal. Watch out for slug and snail damage on young specimens in spring.

Most magnolias are grafted to flower younger. Expect to pay up to £70 for a specimen. Burncoose has an impressive collection.

Source: /theguardian.com/