Magnolia ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’
* Common name: Magnolia ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’
Magnolia ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’
Missouri Botanical Garden, http://www.mobot.org
* Botanical name: Magnolia grandiflora
* What it is: A compact and particularly winter-hardy variety of evergreen southern magnolia that has leathery, glossy green leaves with tan undersides and somewhat fragrant large, white flowers in late spring. U.S. native tree.
* Size: 30-35 feet tall and 20-25 feet wide in about 10 years.
* Where to use: Excellent front-yard specimen, especially in smaller to mid-sized yards. Also nice out kitchen windows and next to patios or water gardens. Full sun to light shade.
* Care: Scatter acidifying organic granular fertilizer around base in March. Keep damp the first two seasons, then magnolias are fairly drought-tolerant. Right after bloom, prune out any crossing or excess branches and make any needed shaping or size-control cuts. Lower limbs can be removed as desired as the tree grows.
* Great partner: Hyacinths or daffodils are good bulb partners for spring color. Dwarf nandina (evergreen) or dwarf Virginia sweetspire (flowering shrub) are good shrubby underplantings. Or ring with petunias, angelonia, euphorbia or other annual flowers in summer.