MAGNOLIA

MAGNOLIAS, named after the French botanist Pierre Magnol, are an ancient genus and it is thought that pollination was by beetles as the trees appeared before bees. Fossilised remains from the family are 95 million years old.

The main centre of distribution is eastern and southeastern Asia with a secondary centre in eastern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America.

Large and specimen sized magnolias are almost all grafted plants, many are also very rare. Different Magnolia varieties grow at very different speeds and therefore the size of a large or a specimen plant and the exact pot size it is delivered in can vary markedly for plants of identical age.

Large plants are normally 2-3 year old grafts, they vary in size from less than 2 feet to 4 feet, potted in 3, 5 or 7.5 litre pots.

Specimen plants are normally 3-5 year old grafts, and are between 4 feet and 8 feet in height potted in 10, 15 or 20 litre pots.

Magnolias do grow very quickly in a single season but do please ring to check the exact size of your chosen variety if you so wish. If we are unable to offer a large sized plant we may well also have smaller plants at a lower price.

Many more magnolia pictures can be found on the Caerhays Website and The Garden Diary.