At the third attempt we have finally managed to grow this subtropical evergreen Mexican magnolia from the Tamaulipas to flowering size outdoors at Caerhays. It is the closest relative to M. grandiflora but nothing like as good.
It actually produced a flower in July 2019 but this was out and over while we were away at the Hampton Court flower show so it went unseen by anybody here. This year it has three flowers and the second bud is perhaps three to four weeks behind the one pictured here. The third is some way behind again. On Saturday 4th July the flower was still covered in its black casing, by Sunday 5th it was half open, and by the afternoon of Monday 6th the tepals had begun to turn creamy brown and were filled with fallen anthers. By Tuesday the tepals had all gone completely brown and started to drop.